


you are my secret

by wavverlyearp



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Enemies to Lovers, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-10 17:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 47,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12303813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wavverlyearp/pseuds/wavverlyearp
Summary: Waverly started her senior year hating her teacher, little did she know she was going to fall for her, hard.orthe one where the teacher Nicole Haught, and student Waverly Earp, go from hating each other to falling in love and it gets complicated.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi there :) (wow that is one creepy smiley, sorry about that)
> 
> if you have come for an angsty slow burn that eventually turns into smut and fluff (with a side serving of angst) then you have come to the right place! 
> 
> anyway, this is my first wayhaught fic and I hope you all enjoy.
> 
> x

 

_every day is a new beginning, so take a deep breath and start again._

* * *

  

“Good morning baby-girl.” Wynonna said as she kicked Waverly’s door open wide open with a bang, causing Waverly to sit bolt up, wincing as she did so.

 

“Jesus Christ Wynonna.” Waverly grumbled, her hands rushing to her head as the hangover from last night pounded through her. Wynonna placed the two coffees in her hand next to her sister’s bed before heading over to the curtains, pulling them open, earning another groan from Waverly as she pulled her duvet over her head to block out the light that suddenly filled the room.

 

“Do you remember anything from last night?” Wynonna chuckled, throwing herself onto Waverly’s bed, enjoying the fact it wasn’t her curled up in the aftermath of excessive drinking. It felt good that it wasn’t Waverly prancing around her room whilst her head felt on the verge of exploding. Well, it felt good for Wynonna, Waverly didn’t feel the same way.

 

_You shouldn’t drink so much Wynonna, then you wouldn’t be in this mess._

 

Waverly wished she had listened to her own advice.

 

“I remember drinking, a lot.” Waverly grumbled, lying back down slowly the bed shaking as Wynonna laughed.

                                                                                                                         

“I’m surprised you don’t have alcohol poisoning sis.” Wynonna said, pulling Waverly’s duvet down off her head and handing her a coffee. “You’re turning into a mini me.”

 

“I would need to drink double what I drank last night to be anywhere near being a mini you.” Waverly joked, sitting up to take a sip of her coffee.

 

“Don’t worry, we will get you there.” Wynonna said with a wink, jumping off the bed and walking back towards the door. “Oh, by the way, school starts in five.” 

 

“Wait-What?” Waverly spat out, nearly choking on her coffee as she opened her phone to see Wynonna wasn’t lying. “Shit.”

 

Waverly knew throwing a party the day before senior year started was not the best of ideas, but it also happened to be her eighteenth birthday, so she did it anyway. She had planned on not getting _too_ drunk so that she could at least survive the first day back without feeling dead inside, clearly her plan was forgotten after the first bottle of vodka and the smallest amount of peer pressure. 

 

Waverly pulled on the first items of clean clothing she came across as she tumbled across her room, her head hammering away as everything gently spun around her. Her first day back was definitely not going to go as planned.

 

When Waverly got downstairs Wynonna was stood by the front door, keys in hand.

 

“I’m gonna drive you in, but only because I have pity for you and how much of a lightweight you are.”

 

“Shut up and get in the car.” Waverly said, stumbling past Wynonna who laughed behind her.

 

Waverly closed the car door slowly, taking a painkiller once Wynonna climbed into the jeep and pulled off the driveway. Waverly stared out the window, trying not to focus on her pain pumping through her system. She had been imaging how her senior year would go for as long as she could remember. Perfect grades, head of the cheerleading squad, scholarships, popularity and she wanted to look grown up instead of looking like twelve-year-old. She didn’t imagine turning up late with a hangover from hell and makeup from last night spread across her face, but here she was. Thankfully the high school was just a fifteen-minute drive from the homestead, but thanks to Wynonna’s issue of sticking to the speed limit, they made it in ten.

 

“Have a good first day, try not to vomit on anyone.” Wynonna said cheerfully as she pulled up to the high school, Waverly mumbled a thank you as she got out the car, not acknowledging what Wynonna had said. Just as Waverly stepped out the car, closing the car door behind her, she heard the school bell ring in the distance so unwillingly Waverly jogged, as best as she could in her hung over state, to the office and explained she had missed homeroom and needed her timetable. Reluctantly with an audible sigh, Waverly was given her timetable for the year.

 

“Thanks.” Waverly muttered as she walked out of the office, into the now empty halls as the students sat in class. Waverly’s footsteps echoed down the hall, bouncing off the rows of blue lockers. She couldn’t help but notice the distance sound of teachers introducing themselves to their new classes as no one payed attention and the occasional student walking the halls because skipping classes on the first day back seemed like a great idea.

 

Waverly opened her locker, dumping her bag after grabbing a pen and notebook from it, quickly checking her timetable before she headed to class. She scanned her new timetable and saw a list of similar teachers and classes, everything looking the same as last year and Waverly let out a small sigh of relief. All of Waverly’s teacher from her previous grades adored her. She was a teacher’s pet, and she knew it, she always had her hand up, always asking questions, paying attention, getting as many extra credits as she could. Yet, unlike most nerds at Purgatory High, Waverly wasn’t hated, or picked on, she was loved not only by teachers but by students as well. Her place on the cheerleading squad gave her a spot on the social hierarchy and her intelligence and quirks were just excepted as being Waverly, by most people anyway. The fact all the football boys found her hot also helped.

 

Waverly shut her locker, walking down to her first class, Advanced English Literature with Ms Harper, the sweetest old lady Waverly had ever met. So, Waverly strolled to class, knowing Ms Harper would not care if she was late, however when Waverly casually opened the classroom door she was hit with a brick wall of silence and a teacher she had never seen before staring straight at her.

 

Waverly felt her stomach clench as time froze for a second, the pounding in her head and the urge to vomit suddenly becoming prominent again.

 

“Sorry I’m late Miss…”

 

“Haught. Miss Haught. You must be…” Waverly took her seat towards the front of the class, watching as her teacher scanned down the register, looking for her name. Waverly was struck by Miss Haught’s appearance, vibrant red hair contrasting her pale skin. It was something small, but when you live in Purgatory anything slightly out of the ordinary Waverly was drawn too, and Miss Haught was definitely out of the ordinary. Unlike all the other teachers here, Miss Haught was young, she cannot have been more than two or three years out of college, if that.

 

“Waverly Earp?” The teacher spoke, looking up to see Waverly, her eyes glazed over as she dragged herself out of her thoughts.

 

“…Yes, sorry.” Waverly took a second to respond, trying to focus despite the fact what she really needed was an either a bed or more alcohol.

 

The thought of more alcohol made Waverly gag.

 

“So, as I was saying, I don’t have many rules, you’re all practically adults and at the end of this year and you’ll be set free into the real world, so to speak. I’m not going to waste my time treating you like children. Just make sure you do as I ask and don’t use crap excuses when you don’t do homework, and try turn up on time, makes it easier for everyone.” Miss Haught said, her glance catching Waverly’s who blushed as half the class turned to stare at her because the mention of being late. 

 

“So, the first novel we are going to be studying this year is _A Handmaid’s Tale_ by Margot Atwood, has anyone here already read the novel?” Waverly raised her hand slowly, knowing she was the only one who was going to. “Good, that’s less reading for you then Earp.”

 

The teacher continued her start of year speech and Waverly zoned out, her head felt on the edge of imploding and she could feel the eyes of half the people in her class burning on her. As Waverly cast her eyes up to look around the classroom everyone looked away, their eyes and heads dropping down towards the desks, apart from Chrissy who mouthed something to her. Waverly couldn’t make out what was being said to her so she turned further in her seat to get a better view to lip read when-

 

“Earp,” Waverly’s head snapped back round, making her feel suddenly very dizzy and for a second she thought she was going to throw up on the desk, which would be the cherry on top of her day so far. “Would you like to share your discussion with the rest of the class?” Waverly could feel her cheeks reddening as all eyes burned on her again. She didn’t usually mind people looking at her, in fact she kind of enjoyed it, but she did not like the way this teacher was looking at her. Teachers loved her, praised her and gave her extra credit, they did not get to look smug as they acted like they were teaching a bunch of pre-schoolers. Waverly was 18 and she hadn’t heard anyone ask if she’d like to tell the rest of the class her conversation since she was eight, and maybe if her head wasn’t aching and this new teacher hadn’t been so intimidating she might have spoken back, but she didn’t.

 

“No Miss.” Waverly whispered, her eyes casting down in slight embarrassment as she realised half the class were staring at yesterday’s makeup across her face and Miss Haught must have been too.

 

“Then try listening instead of talking.” Miss Haught said before turning back to the rest of the class. Waverly slowly clenched her fist under her desk before sighing and slumping down into her seat. No teacher had spoken to her like that, attitude spilling out her mouth and Waverly did not like it. She was doing her very best to keep her eyes open and not lie down on the desk whilst Miss Haught spoke, she’d pissed her off more than enough already, so falling asleep in class might not be the best of ideas. Just as Miss Haught turned to write something on the whiteboard, Waverly felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She knew she was not allowed her phone out in class, but considering that Miss Haught was busy writing on the whiteboard, she had enough time to check who had just text her. 

 

_**Chrissy** ; Have you checked snapchat this morning?? _

 

_**Waverly** ; No, why? _

_**Chrissy** ; Just check it x_

 

Waverly closed her messages, quickly looking up from under her desk to see that Miss Haught was still writing on the board before opening snapchat and scrolling across to the stories, making sure her phone was on mute before she opened anything. Considering the whole of her grade had been at her party last night meant she had a lot of stories to look through, but she didn’t need to look far to find what Chrissy was on about.

 

Jason’s story was a couple of cute photos of him and his friends at the party, then video of Waverly, very very drunk Waverly, making out with Champ, a very drunk Champ, and everyone cheering around them. Waverly cringed as she watched more videos of her making many questionable decisions, decisions she has no memory of making. She made a mental note that a whole bottle of vodka in an hour is not the best of ideas.

 

As Waverly scrolled through her phone, dying a little inside after every new photo she found, she did not notice the approaching figure who was now stood at her desk, her shadowing covering Waverly.

 

_Fuck._

 

Miss Haught didn’t say a word, she just held her hand out and Waverly reluctantly gave her the phone.

 

“You can collect it from the main office at the end of the day.” Miss Haught stated calmly as she walked back over to her desk. Most teachers would just give phones that had been confiscated back at the end of the class, or so Waverly had heard as she was not typically one for getting her phone taken off her. But after Waverly had turned up late, talked in class and been on her phone, she could see where Miss Haught was coming from, but that didn’t make Waverly hate her less.

 

Waverly spent the rest of the class with her eyes glued to Miss Haught, trying her best to engage with what was being said, but she found it very difficult to give an interpretation that wasn’t very quickly shut down by the pissed off teacher in front of her. So eventually she gave in, deciding that it was going to take more than one lesson to reprehend herself after this, and she honestly wasn’t sure if she cared enough about what this teacher thought to try fix it.

 

So Waverly stopped listening and for the first time since she had entered the classroom she noticed Miss Haught, properly noticed her, her bright red hair stood out and was pulled back into a messy bun, her white buttoned up shirt was tucked into her fitted short black skirt and the top few buttons had been und-

 

The bell rang and everyone rushed from the class room, starling Waverly who stood up slowly to avoid her hangover hitting her as she waited for Chrissy to make it over to her desk.

 

“Well that went well for you.” Chrissy whispered as they left the classroom.

 

“Tell me about it.”

  

* * *

   

Nicole closed the door of her classroom as the last senior left the room, her shoulders relaxing and her hands stopped fighting the urge to tremble. She hadn’t been nervous about teaching, she never had, but once her first student came into the class she felt her stomach clench. She wasn’t awkward or nervous because she was scared of what they would think, she couldn’t care less if they hated her, she as here to do her job, not to be loved. She was scared because she knew that the education these kids were getting was their only ticket out of this town, and if they failed this was as far as they would get. She wanted to make a difference, do something right. Her first class had not gone to plan though, she had to take a phone off someone, who was clearly hungover and no one else seemed interested in to content she was trying to teach.

 

This whole teaching thing was going to be harder than she first thought.

 

Nicole spent the next lesson, which she had free, planning her lessons for later and when the bell went, pulling her from her work, she decided to go to the staff room and meet her colleagues. She needed to make friends here, she needed someone to show her around.

 

“Nicole, how’s it going?” A teacher Nicole didn’t remember the name of called out from behind her as she opened her classroom door. Nicole didn’t seem to know anyone’s name here but everyone knew hers and apparently that was expected, not many people from outside Purgatory came to teach here, so everyone knew who she was before she even arrived.

 

“It was alright thanks.” Nicole replied with a smile, waiting for the other member of staff to catch up so they could walk to the staff room together.

 

“Good, which grade did you just have?” Nicole recognised the woman now beside her as one of the other English teachers who had been showing Nicole her way around that morning, she was sweet, a lot older than herself. Nicole had noticed that practically all the teachers were a good twenty years older than her.

 

“I had my senior class and then a break.” Nicole replied, checking the teacher planner clutched in the woman’s grip to find her name, Sarah.

 

“Oh, the seniors are just lovely this year!” Sarah said, a smile curled on her plump face. Everyone Nicole had met so far seemed to be extremely happy, overly happy. Nicole just assumed it was a small-town thing.

 

“They’re not bad, except for that Earp girl.” Nicole sighed to herself as she turned the corner. She didn’t see the look of shock that spread across the other teachers face.

 

“You mean Waverly?”

 

“Yeah, Waverly.” Nicole repeated as she pushed the door of the staff room open, Sarah following her.

 

“How can…Waverly, are you sure you’ve got the right girl?”

 

“Yeah, there weren’t any other Waverly Earp’s in that class, thank god.”

 

“Joan, Steven, you’re not going to believe this.” Sarah yelled across the room, dragging Nicole across to Joan and Steven who Nicole had never met, and every other member of staff turned to look. “Nicole doesn’t like little Waverly Earp.”

 

Nicole had expected a someone to agree with her, or people to not care. She couldn’t grasp why Sarah seemed so fixated on it, so what if she didn’t like one kid? She had shown up to class late, clearly hungover and stinking of alcohol and she was on her phone, was Nicole supposed to love her after that?

 

What Nicole was not expecting was the entire staff room to gasp and stare at her as if she had just admitted she murdered a litter of puppies.

 

“How can you not like Waverly?”

 

“She is the sweetest girl.”

 

“She stays behind after school to help tutoring some of the kids in the grade below.”

 

“That girl is just the nicest teenager ever.”

 

“Waverly Earp is a shining star, especially if you compare her to Wynonna.”

 

The entire room broke into complimenting Waverly as Nicole stood, suddenly wondering if she was talking about the wrong girl.

 

* * *

  

“Waverly, you fucking stink of vodka.” Chrissy said as she sat down next to Waverly in the cafeteria. Waverly had decided against eating, just in case her food came back up.

 

“Thanks Chrissy, I feel so much better now.” Waverly retorted, lowering her head onto the table, trying to block out the noise of the cafeteria, but it didn’t work.

 

“Hey Waverly.” A couple guys said as they walked past her table, Waverly grumbled in acknowledgement and Chrissy laughed.

  
  
“Bless her, she’s a little dead.” The boys made a comment that Waverly didn’t catch before laughing and walking to their mates.

 

“You okay hun?” Chrissy asked and Waverly sat up straight, the room spinning a little as she did so.

  
  
“Yeah, the painkillers I just took are starting to kick in, I’ll be fine in a minute.” Waverly replied, a smile stitched on her face. The brunette looked around the cafeteria, seeing so many people who came last night and drank just as much as she did but they looked fine, unaffected by the alcohol flooding their systems, yet Waverly felt like she’d been tackled by the whole football team.

 

Waverly had zoned out slightly, a few of her other friends had joined her and Chrissy, all talking about their best moments from last night, many of these moments Waverly had no memory of.

 

“Waverly!” The dull yell of Champ’s voice and his arm around her shoulder as he nearly sat on her lap pulled Waverly from her thoughts. “Hey babes.” Champ kissed her forehead, a couple of his mates coming to sit around the table with them.

 

“Champ, last time I checked she wasn’t your babe?” Chrissy piped up, looking over at Waverly with cautious eyes. Champ and Waverly had been dating on and off over the last couple years and they had broken up again during summer because, to put it politely, Champ wasn’t being faithful. But that’s when it hit Waverly-

 

“Actually, as of last night I think you’ll find Chrissy, she is my babes.” Waverly shrunk into herself slightly as she recalled agreeing to forgive Champ and give him another shot.

 

“She was drunk, she probably doesn’t even remember that Champ.” Chrissy sighed, waiting for Waverly to say something, but she didn’t. She just sat quietly curled up into Champ’s side. He wasn’t that bad. He was your typical teenage boy, on the football team, every girl wanted him and Waverly had him. It made her life easier, made her feel…safer, maybe.

 

“Did you not get my text?” Champ asked Waverly, ignoring Chrissy.

 

“No, sorry, I got my phone taken off me in English lit this morning.” Waverly said, Champ laughed and raised his hand for a high five.

 

“Wow, Waverly Earp breaking the rules.” Champ said, still laughing as Waverly gave him a half-hearted attempt at a high five. “Who took it off you?”

 

“New teacher, Miss Haught.”

 

“Miss Hot?” Champed said back, his eyebrows raised suggestively, making his jock friends laugh loudly, whether they found it funny or had to laugh because Champ had said it Waverly would never know.

 

“Haught.” Waverly repeated, annunciating it clearly over Champ’s laughter.

 

“Oh, you mean the ginger one?” One of Champ’s friend Jack said, “Yeah she’s hot alright.”

 

Waverly ignored the few comments being made about Miss Haught, her mind wondering back to the teacher. She hadn’t been focused enough to even realise the irony of her name, she must have heard every joke under the sun about that.

 

“Anyway, I’ve got practice,” Champ said, standing up, his mates following his lead, “You all coming to the game Friday?” Champ asked and everyone nodded. Champ kissed Waverly’s forehead before him and his mates left, silence took over the table before Chrissy spoke up.

 

“So, you and Champs? Again.”

 

“Don’t.” Waverly didn’t want to have the same conversation again, but Chrissy pushed.

 

“But-“

 

“No, I know. He’s gonna hurt me, cheat on me, whatever. You won’t be there this time to pick me back up, I get it Chrissy, you don’t need to tell me because I get it okay? I just don’t want to be alone and yeah he isn’t the best of guys, but he is sweet and he does care, so can you please just pretend you’re happy for me.” 

 

The silence returned for a few moments before Jeremy said he had to go, he didn’t want to be late for class and everyone was done eating, so they left.

 

* * *

  

The rest of Waverly’s lessons were normal, her headache had cleared and rooms had stopped spinning, so she could turn up on time and concentrate. Her teachers all greeted her with a smile and a ‘how was your summer?’, occasionally they asked about Wynonna and Waverly would say she was fine because that’s what she told herself.

 

After the final bell went and students rushed to their lockers, Waverly made her way back along the hallway to Miss Haught’s room. The further along the hall she got, the quieter it became, students rushing to get away from the hell hole that was Purgatory High.

 

Just before Waverly reached the classroom, she noticed her hands were shaking. She had never been in trouble before, at least not with a teacher that wasn’t some sixty-year-old sweet lady. Miss Haught did not seem sweet, at all. She was tall and sharp, her attitude conveyed someone who was nice until you pissed them off and then they’d break you.

 

Waverly realised that thinking about that was not helping, and by the time she reached out to knock on the classroom door she was shaking hard.

 

“Come in.” Miss Haught’s voice carried through the door as though the teacher was stood right next to Waverly, not on the opposite side of the classroom with the door closed.

 

Waverly took a sharp breath before pushing the door open, seeing Miss Haught sat at her desk, her back to Waverly.

 

“Um, you said to come back at the end of the day for my phone.” Waverly said quietly, uncomfortably stood by the door way, not knowing whether walking over to the desk was a good idea or not.

 

“Oh, right, Waverly, isn’t it?” Miss Haught said, spinning in her chair, a smile on her face which made Waverly shift on the spot, her cheeks reddening slightly.

 

“Yeah.” Waverly said slowly, her hand still shaking by her side as Miss Haught held eye contact.

 

“Well,” Miss Haught said as she spun in her chair, opening her desk draw, pulling out Waverly’s phone, “I’m sure you had a very good reason to be on your phone, but if you could not get it out in my class again it would be appreciated.” Her voice was laced in sarcasm and Waverly could not understand what right Miss Haught thought she had to speak to her like that. She was her teacher and nasty sarcasm was not professional, at all.

 

Waverly walked over to Miss Haught who was now holding her phone at arm’s length. Waverly smiled sweetly as she took the phone, debating how fake the smile currently plastered on her teacher’s face was.

 

“I won’t do it again, sorry Miss Haught.” Waverly said, her teacher’s pet voice taking over as she spoke, making sure it was clear she did not mean what she said. She could have sworn she saw Miss Haught laugh a little in disbelief as she exhaled, but maybe she was just hearing things. Waverly took the phone, her fingers brushing over Miss Haught’s slightly as she did so and she couldn’t help noticing how cold her teacher was, her fingers like ice and Waverly had to hold her breath to not gasp. Maybe her heart was that cold, it would make sense. Just as Waverly was about to turn away she saw Miss Haught’s own phone light up on her desk, a text had come through and Waverly could barely make out what it said but she could see _hey Nicole._  
  
“Is that everything Waverly?” Miss Haught asked as Waverly still hadn’t moved.

 

‘Yeah, sorry.” Waverly said with a grin before quickly turning around. As she left the classroom she felt Miss Haught- _Nicole’s_ eyes burn into her back. She shut the door behind her and started walking to her locker, checking her phone and seeing a couple texts from Champ and a million miss calls from Wynonna. Waverly called Wynonna back hoping that her sister was just bored at home and not in any trouble, but Waverly knew she had her hopes up too high.

 

“Hello, it’s Officer Lenny, is this Waverly Earp?” Waverly internally sighed before answering.

 

“Yes, it is, I’m guessing Wynonna needs bailing out?”

 

“Yep, you know the drill.” Lenny said, dropping the formalities, he and Waverly had this conversation far too many times for things to still be formal.

 

“Right, thanks I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Waverly said, closing her locker door and heading out of school.

 

She hoped tomorrow would be a better day and she could get back on track for her perfect senior year. Little did Waverly Earp know that her definition of a perfect senior year was about to change drastically.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

_You don’t cross my mind (you live in it)_

* * *

Waverly took a deep breath as she stepped into the station, the distinctive dusty smell of the place becoming far too familiar to her. Wynonna had been making it a habit of ending up here. It had gone from once every few months to at least twice a week. It was the same things, stupid reasons, drinking, fighting or sometimes both.

 

“Waverly.” Lenny called out from his desk, standing up to collect the keys for the cell Wynonna was currently in.

 

“Hey Lenny, what was it this time?” Waverly asked, leaning on the front desk.

 

“I believe she got into a bar fight.” Lenny said as he walked around the desk and to the back of the station, Waverly followed, preparing the ‘I’m disappointed in you’ speech for Wynonna.

 

The officer let Wynonna out, telling her this was the last time before she was properly arrested and would have a proper bail to pay, Wynonna nodded along knowing he said that every time. They loved Wynonna, which was a change for the Earp’s, but since their father died the town took pity on them.

 

Waverly signed the papers she needed to sign and Wynonna did the same, grabbing her keys off the desk and telling Lenny she’d see him later.

 

“Another bar fight? Really?” Waverly sighed as they walked out the station.

 

“Oh, he deserved it.” Wynonna huffed, walking quicker than Waverly, making the younger Earp jog to keep up.

 

“Wynonna, I should not have to come straight from high school to bail you out, I want this year to be normal and normal families don’t have to bail their sister out of jail every other day.”

  
“It’s not every day-“ Wynonna began to protest but Waverly cut her off.

 

“Not the point Wynonna.” Waverly sighed, climbing into the jeep as Wynonna unlocked it.

 

The drive back to the homestead was silent, the only sound was the wind whistling against Waverly’s open window. But Waverly’s mind was not silent. She couldn’t stop thinking about redeeming herself to the new teacher, Miss Haught, Nicole. Waverly could not stand people disliking her, after spending the majority of her childhood being hated by everyone in the town for nothing more than her last name, and by half her family for no apparent reason, approval was something Waverly needed. She needed to do something in her next class with Miss Haught to make sure that the new teacher liked her, because yes, she needed to extra credits and having the teacher hate her guts was not going to help matters with that, but also because she wanted to be liked. Not that Waverly would admit that out loud, ever.

 

So, Waverly spent all night doing extra research on the book they were studying, on critics of the novel, on everything she could get her hands on. The next day she spent the whole lesson with her hand up, a smile on her face and an answer to everything the redhead could throw at her.

 

The bell went, signalling the end of class, and Waverly was about to leave the classroom with the biggest smile on her face, convinced her plan had worked, when-

 

“Waverly, can you just stay behind a second?” Miss Haught asked, stopping Waverly in her tracks.

 

“Good luck with that.” Chrissy whispered as she walked past her.

 

Waverly slowly walked over to the teacher’s desk where Nic- Miss Haught sat, waiting for the other students to leave the room. Waverly looked over Miss Haught’s clothes, which were a lot more causal than yesterday’s attire, maybe the woman had realised that in a small-town high school like this, no one payed attention to the dress code. Some students came in their night clothes, despite the dress code being smart-casual. Nicole had a pair of dark blue skinny jeans on with a plain deep blue t-shirt tucked in and even though it was simple she managed to make it look like something a model would wear down the catwalk.

 

“Waverly.” Miss Haught spoke, Waverly bringing herself out of her thoughts and quickly realising everyone had left the room. “Look, I am very glad you understand the text very well and clearly have a lot to say about it, I would prefer it if you gave everyone else a chance to speak. They won’t learn and grow if you answer every single question I ask.”

 

Waverly stood for a couple seconds before she could even consider responding, her mouth was hung slightly open in disbelief. She had never, ever, had a teacher tell her to answer less questions in class. Most teachers were beyond grateful someone was listening to them speak. Miss Haught might have spent all her life in cities where everyone wants to learn and grow, but in Purgatory the fact half the class showed up was a miracle.

 

“That’s everything Miss Earp, you can go now.” Miss Haught said after a moment, not looking up from the work she was marking. Waverly turned quickly and walked out the room, doing her best not to slam the door shut behind her. Once outside the classroom, Waverly walked over to Chrissy’s locker, her face clearly saying it all.

 

“What the hell did she say?” Chrissy asked, leaning casually against her locker, making her figure stand out.

 

“She told me to stop answering and giving my opinion in class!” Waverly huffed, loosening her fists which had been clenched by her side.

 

“And you look like you’re about to kill someone, because?” Chrissy asked, her eyebrows raised in questioning.

 

“Because she hates me and she’s being a bitch, no one else in class fucking participates and she has the audacity to tell me to stop to _give everyone else a chance._ They all have a chance for Christ sake, has she not noticed no one in this crappy town gives a shit!?” Waverly’s voice got louder with every word she spoke until she was practically yelling, everyone in the hallway having fallen silent, turning and staring as Waverly yelled. It wasn’t often that the youngest Earp swore, not in front of people anyway, so she had caught everyone’s attention and could feel herself going a deep shade of red. She blamed Miss Haught, she was the reason everyone was staring at her like she’d just stabbed someone, she ruined the happy bubbly Waverly reputation in ten seconds flat. She was-

 

“Waverly?” Chrissy whispered, pulling Waverly out of her thoughts. “You wanna come back to mine and we can finish this conversation later?” Waverly nodded and Chrissy closed her locker door.

 

* * *

 

 

“She just knows it all.” Nicole said as she poured herself a coffee. The buzz of the staff room was something Nicole thought she would have enjoyed more than she did, she had hoped it would be talk of education and change, but instead it was just like the students in the common room. It was petty gossiping, which Nicole found herself joining in with. “It’s like she swallowed the internet and became google.”

 

“And that’s a bad thing?” Sarah asked, a soft chuckle accompanying her words.

 

“No, it’s great that she knows it, it’s just no one else is having to engage with the class that I am trying to teach because she’s doing it all for them.” Nicole sighed as she sat down, no other member of staff seemed to understand her struggle, it was as if everyone else as this place had a Waverly Earp shrine back at their homes.

 

“The girls been through a lot, maybe you should cut her some slack.” Sarah said as she stood up, the bell ringing in the distance warning everyone that lunch was over.

 

 _She’s been through a lot._ Nicole let her mind wonder to what that could be, what a girl so perfect could have gone through. Waverly seemed to be everything Nicole would have hated in high school. The popular know-it-all cheerleading princess whose hardest moment in life had been choosing a prom dress. But maybe Nicole was wrong, she knew people weren’t always as perfect as they seemed, and maybe Waverly really had been through a lot.

 

Nicole hadn’t understood the girl’s reaction to her after class, all she had asked was for Waverly to give someone else a chance to speak and Waverly’s mouth dropped. Waverly clearly wasn’t used to being told to be quiet, praise seemed to be the only thing she knew.  

 

Nicole made it back to her classroom just in time for her junior’s class, half the students attempting to sleep on the desk before the class had even begun. When she moved away from the city she had expected it to be different, calmer, but she hadn’t been expecting such a distract change. The attitudes to learning and education were so different, so relaxed. If a kid failed, no one seemed concerned, but Nicole was, and the kids may hate her for not letting them sleep through her class, but Nicole knew she was doing them a favour. If Nicole had learnt anything after a few days of being in Purgatory, it was not somewhere you wanted to stay.

 

* * *

 

“It’s just so unfair, I mean who does she think she is?” Waverly exclaimed, leaning down with an exhale as she easily touched her toes, coming back up to face Chrissy.

 

“Who knows.” Chrissy said with a shrug of her shoulders, continuing her stretches. Cheerleading practice started in a few minutes and Coach expected everyone to be warmed up before practice begun. The entire team of thirty-three girls were now all on the pitch, stretching and bending in ways which didn’t seem possible, yet they made it seem like second nature. Waverly and Chrissy had already been here for fifteen minutes, and Waverly had been complaining about Miss Haught the entire time.

 

“If you were a teacher here, you’d be glad if someone was participating in the class, right?” Waverly asked as she pulled her arm around her neck, feeling her muscles pull taught.

 

“Yes Waverly.” Chrissy responded, but Waverly knew she wasn’t really listening to her.

 

“Chrissy, did you even hear me?” Waverly asked, stepping into her best friend’s line of view, Chrissy visibly shaking herself from her thoughts.

 

“Yes,” Waverly raised her eyebrows and Chrissy sighed, looking down, “No, sorry, you just keep talking about it and I don’t know how many times I can agree with you. She’s a bitch, I get it.” Coach’s whistle blew just as Chrissy finished her sentence and all the girls jogged over to where Coach Lea was stood. Waverly zoned out as the Coach spoke, she hadn’t noticed how much she was talking about Miss Haught. She hadn’t taken into account just how much it bothered her, but she couldn’t seem to shut up about it, which was weird. It shouldn’t affect her this much, it’s just one teacher who clearly has a problem with her, why did it matter? Waverly knew she had some deep buried issues with people disliking her, but this was a whole new level of wanting, needing someone to like her.

 

As practice begun Waverly told herself she wasn’t going to talk about Miss Haught, she wasn’t even going to waste her time thinking about her because she didn’t care. Not at all. She could not care less that Miss Haught hated her for no apparent reason, it didn’t bother her at all. Throughout the hour of practice for the game next Friday Waverly kept telling herself she wasn’t going to think about it, so she spent an hour thinking about not thinking about Miss Haught.

 

Once practice was over and Coach Lea left, all the girls walked slowly over to the changing rooms, their limbs aching from the tumbles and splits they had been doing for the last hour.

 

“Waverly!” Champ called out as Waverly walked with Chrissy and a few other girls, “Wait up!” Waverly stopped, Chrissy turning back silently asking if she should wait but Waverly mouthed that it was fine so she followed everyone off the pitch, leaving Champ and Waverly alone.

 

“What’s up?’” Waverly asked, arms folded across her chest as the fall breeze swept across her.

 

“Just wondering if you were busy tonight?” Champ asked, his gaze openly scanning Waverly’s figure up and down. If there was anything Champ was, it wasn’t smooth, his intentions were always clear.

 

“Actually I am.” Waverly said, suddenly glad she agreed on Wynonna’s offer to go to Shorty’s later. She had to be in a certain mood to be around Champ, and she was not in that place right now.

 

“Alright, cool, what about tomorrow?” Champ asked, chewing his gum loudly.

 

“Should be free.”

 

“Nice, I’ll pick you up for lunch babes.” Champ said, quickly kissing Waverly before leaving. Waverly watched him walk away, resisting the urge to tell him for the thousandth time that her name was Waverly, not babe. Even though Champ had his flaws, Waverly was glad she had someone, someone who cared for her and was attractive and wanted to spend time with her. A normal teenage boy. Something there were not many of in Purgatory.

 

Waverly got changed out of her cheerleading clothes, pulling on a deep red crop top and leggings before heading out to the school’s car park, where thankfully Wynonna was waiting.

 

“So, you managed to not get arrested today?” Waverly said with a laugh, closing the Jeep door behind her.

 

“Oh Waverly, the night is young.” Wynonna said with a wink, pulling away from the high school.

 

Waverly was glad she could spend the night with Wynonna, they didn’t have much time together anymore, they didn’t talk as much as they should. Waverly had made Wynonna promise that she would only have one drink, as long as Waverly paid. So, they sat at a table and talked. Waverly told her sister about Champ and how they were kind of back together, her sister sighed and made a few digs at Champs before letting Waverly continue. It wasn’t long until Waverly’s mind slipped back to Miss Haught, and her words swiftly followed her mind.

 

“So there’s this new teacher, Miss Haught-“

 

“I’m sorry, Miss _Hot_?” Wynonna raised both her eyebrows to the point where they were in her hair, “Wow, she must have been bullied as a teen.” Wynonna laughed to herself but Waverly wasn’t amused.

 

“ _Haught_ , not _hot_.” Waverly said impatiently, but Wynonna wasn’t listening.

 

“Oh my god please tell me she is some old grandma.” Wynonna was basically chackling at this point and Waverly wasn’t having it, Wynonna was just as bad as all the boys in her grade. She had heard all the jokes, and Miss Haught must have heard them all a million times too, so Waverly slammed her glass down, causing Wynonna to sit bolt up and her mouth snap shut.

 

“As I was saying,” Waverly continued, having Wynonna’s full attention, “Miss _Haught_ kept me behind to tell me to stop contributing to class so much, she was mad at me for putting in too much effort. She hates me for taking part in her stupid lessons.”

 

“I’m sure she doesn’t hate you baby-girl, you’re probably reading into it too much.” Wynonna said, still internally laughing that someone had the last name Haught.

 

“Can you just agree with me for once?” Waverly said, harsher than intended. Waverly had thought about the possibility that she was overreacting, that maybe Miss Haught didn’t hate her and was just trying to do the other kids a favour, maybe save Waverly from being called a teacher’s pet behind her back. But then she thought about the fact that Miss Haught won’t even look her way in class, will blatantly ignore her hand when its raised, how Waverly swore she saw the teacher roll her eyes once when she gave an answer. Waverly was not overreacting, her thoughts being consumed by this teacher was completely okay and rational, or so she told herself.

 

“Right, what a bitch, you want me to kill her?” Wynonna said causally and Waverly nearly choked on her drink.

 

“God, no Wynonna, you’d get properly arrested for that.” Waverly said as Wynonna laughed. She missed her sister, they’d grown apart over the years as their different interests separated them. Waverly became fascinated by literature and history, Wynonna captured by booze and avoiding her problems.

 

The Earp sisters went back to talking about their weeks, laughing at the jokes Wynonna made and Waverly for the first time this week, since school had started, felt like she could relax a little. Even though it had only been a week since her senior year started, Waverly felt like she never had a summer and she’d been at high school all year.

 

“This is nice.” Wynonna said, quieter than usual, losing her joking tone that always accompanied her sentences. Waverly smiled, a genuine smile.

 

“It is.” They both knew it hadn’t been like this, nice, not since their father had died. But Waverly also knew that nice didn’t last long.

 

And that was the moment Nicole Haught walked into Shorty’s, her perfect smile lit up the room, everyone’s eyes were drawn to her. Her pale skin and burning hair, she was a walking contradiction that had everyone’s attention. Waverly felt her stomach twist, in what she assumed was hate, what she hoped was hate. When Waverly looked across to Wynonna she saw her sister, like everyone else, staring at Nicole.

 

“Speak of the devil.” Waverly whispered, taking a sip of her drink, shaking her head in slight disbelief.

 

Wynonna looked at her for a second, a confused expression on her face until it clicked, “Oh shit, that’s Haught-stuff?”

 

“God, never call her that again.” Waverly said, pretending to grimace at Wynonna’s words. The noise in the bar picked up again and it returned to normal, a few eyes still lingering on Nicole as she leaned over the bar slightly to order a drink.

 

“She’s…interesting. She does not look like a bitch.” Wynonna said, still looking at Nicole.

 

“Yeah well, that’s what I thought.”

 

“She looks like a laugh.” Wynonna said, not acknowledging Waverly’s words. Waverly clicked her fingers in front of her sister’s face, bring Wynonna’s attention back to her.

 

“You ready to go?” Waverly asked, necking the rest of her drink.

 

“Not re-“

 

“Good, let’s go.” Waverly stood up and started to walk out the bar as quickly as she could, hoping Wynonna was close behind her. She knew she had caught Nic- Miss Haught's attention, something she didn't know she wanted until she had it. Waverly wanted to hate the sensation of the redhead's eyes burning on her own skin, but she didn't. Whatever hatred she thought she was feeling for the teacher was really starting to scare her as she acknowledged that _this,_ whatever this was, it was definitely not hate.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading, let me know if you're enjoying this slow burn so far. 
> 
> x


	3. Chapter 3

 

_Oh. another word for I’m hurt_

 

* * *

 

 

A couple weeks had passed since Waverly saw Nicole at Shorty’s, and thankfully her life had pretty much gone back to normal, or as normal as her life ever was. Her grades at school were exceptional, ignoring Miss Haught’s class where her grades were not the best, but Waverly just ignored that, or at least tried to. She was dating Champ, everything was back to the way it was. Until Waverly came home after a weekend out with Champ to find Wynonna’s jeep on the homestead, which on a Sunday was unusual, but during happy hour at Shorty’s, it was unexpected to say the least.

 

“Wynonna?” Waverly called out as she closed the front door behind her, but Wynonna didn’t shout back. _Maybe she just walked to Shorty’s,_ Waverly thought to herself, thinking maybe Wynonna had been smart for once and not drove to where she was going drinking, but Waverly should have known better than to think that. As she walked towards the stairs she heard a laugh coming from the kitchen, a laugh that was not Wynonna’s.

 

“Wynonna, you home?” Waverly called out again, the laughing cut off and a silence broke out for a couple seconds before Wynonna replied.

 

“Yeah.” Then the silence returned. Wynonna would have normally walked out to see Waverly, or make an uncomfortable joke, or do anything but stay still and silent. So, Waverly changed her route, walking into the kitchen.

 

“How come you’re not at-“ Waverly stopped dead, her mouth hung slightly open and her first thought was to pinch herself because this cannot be real.

 

And if it was real, she was going to kill Wynonna.

 

“Waverly.” Nicole said, breaking the silence, her eyes glancing up and down Waverly’s choice of clothing which suddenly felt far too revealing, her crop top seemingly too tight and her skirt too short.

 

“Nicole.” Waverly replied almost instantly, she could see the Nicole’s eyebrows raise, she had been expecting Waverly to say Miss Haught, Nicole wasn’t even aware Waverly knew her first name.

 

Waverly could feel her cheeks burning as she held eye contact with Nicole, her heart racjng within her chest.

 

Wynonna’s cough interrupted them, forcing both women to break the awkwardly long eye contact and turn to face Wynonna. “Hey baby-girl, how was Champ’s?”

 

“Good.” Waverly replied, not wanting to go into detail about that with Nicole in the room. She knew Nicole would know who Champ was, everyone knew him, he had a reputation and a half. “Thought you’d be at Shorty’s.” Waverly added, grabbing a drink from the cupboard, Nicole’s eyes lingered on her as she moved.

 

“We were there but thought it would be cheaper to drink here.” Wynonna said as she took another chug of the beer in her hand.

 

“Right...I’m going to Chrissy’s tonight, that alright?” Waverly asked, knowing Wynonna would not say no and even if she did Waverly would go anyway.

 

“Yeah sure.” Wynonna replied, turning her attention back to Nicole as Waverly left the room, walking upstairs and dialling Chrissy’s number.

 

“Hey.” Chrissy answered her phone and Waverly sighed in relief.

 

“Hey, can I stay at yours tonight?”

  

* * *

 

 

“Sorry about that, didn’t think she’d be home.” Wynonna said as Waverly left the homestead, leaving Wynonna and Nicole to themselves again.

 

“It’s alright.” Nicole said, a small smile curving her lips. “So, Waverly and Champ?” Nicole asked, knowing she shouldn’t pry, it wasn’t her business. She already knew the two had a relationship, the entire school seemed to know, but Nicole knew Wynonna would know things that everyone else wouldn’t’, and she wanted to know.

 

“Yeah,” Wynonna sighed, moving to sit down on the couch, Nicole following her. “They’ve been on and off for a while now. He’s…alright I guess. She could do better though.”

 

“Oh she definitely could.” Nicole said, Wynonna instantly turning to face her with a confused expression on her face.

 

“What do you mean by that?” Both Wynonna’s eyebrows had raised and her head tipped to one side. Nicole thought for a second about what she had meant by that. Waverly Earp was smart, incredibly pretty, everyone loved her, she was funny, determined, hard-working… Nicole stopped listing the qualities of Waverly in her head as she noticed the qualities were exactly what she looked for in a woman.

 

“Well, I’m pretty sure she can do better than Champ, he’s not the best of lads.” Nicole said smoothly, pushing her thoughts of Waverly being her type deep down where Wynonna would never be able to see them, where Nicole would never think of them again. She couldn’t think about Waverly that way, Nicole was pretty sure it was illegal, not that anyone around here seemed to pay attention to the law.

 

“Fair play, he certainly is a character.” Wynonna said with a chuckle, “It’d be nice if he was smart enough to count to ten.” Nicole joined in with the laughter. She hadn’t meant to start speaking again, she had intended to change the subject and move on, but Nicole couldn’t help herself.

 

“Waverly needs someone who would challenge her intellectually, and Champ is definitely not the man to do that.” Nicole almost grimaced at the word _man._ She had assumed Waverly was straight, and as much as she hoped she was wrong, she knew she was right. _Wait, why do I hope I’m wrong?_ Nicole suddenly found herself thinking about Waverly in _that_ way something only seconds ago she had promised to never do again.

 

“You’re right Haught.” Wynonna said with a nod of her head and another gulp of her beer. “You seem to know her well, considering you’ve only been teaching her a couple weeks, and the fact you don’t seem to get along too well.”

 

“What do you mean?” Nicole asked casually, trying not to seem interested about the fact Waverly had been talking about her, even if it was in a bad sense.

 

“I mean you told Waverly not to talk so much in class or something.” Wynonna shrugged her shoulder as she spoke and Nicole laughed.

 

“I told her to give the other kids a chance, she knows everything and I know she knows, pretty sure the other kids don’t know shit and I am supposed to teach them all.”

 

“Right, makes more sense than you hating on Waverly cause she smart.” Wynonna said, jumping off the couch. “Another drink Haught?”

 

“I’m alright thanks.” Nicole refused politely, turning up to school the next day with a hangover might not go down too well.

 

“Come on, one more.” Wynonna smiled, giving Nicole the best puppy eyes she had, and Nicole broke. No one at that school seemed to care anyway, no one followed the rules. If she turned up with a little headache, no one would notice.

 

“Fine, one more.” Nicole agreed and Wynonna cheered before going back to the kitchen to get more drinks.

 

* * *

 

 

“I just can’t believe Wynonna did that, you know?” Waverly sighed, collapsing onto Chrissy’s bed.

 

“Hun, I’m sure the intention wasn’t to hurt you.” Chrissy said as she sat down next to Waverly. “Aren’t you glad that Wynonna has a friend? It might help her settle down a little.”

 

“Yeah, I guess.” Waverly said, trying to see the positives of Wynonna being Nicole’s friend. Perhaps having Nicole at the homestead more often would force them to become civil, make class a little easier, maybe they could be friends…Waverly cut her own trail of thought off. “Still, after I spent the last few weeks constantly complaining about her, just didn’t expect Wynonna to become her new best friend.”

 

“Oh, come on Waverly, they are not best friends and you know it.” Chrissy said, laughing at Waverly as she dramatically rolled her eyes. “Right, get up.” Chrissy jumped up, holding out her hand for Waverly.

 

“Why?” Waverly questioned, looking at her best friend’s hand with caution.

 

“Because, you need to get your mind off all this Miss Haught shit and I know just the place.” Chrissy said with a smug smile as Waverly took her hand and was helped off the bed.

 

Waverly didn’t question Chrissy when she was dragged out the house and down to the bus stop, she trusted her best friend, and trusting was not something Waverly did easily.

 

When they got off the bus Waverly spoke up, curiosity getting the better of her.

 

“Chrissy, where are we going?” She knew the street they were on, she knew the houses and the people that lived here. In a small town, everyone seems to know everyone, which isn’t always a good thing.

 

“A party.” Chrissy stated, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice.

 

“What party?” Waverly asked. If there was a party she surely would have known about it, rumours spread quicker than a forest fire in Purgatory

 

“Well, it’s more of a little get together that I overheard some of the football team talking about at lunch.”

 

“How come I didn’t hear?” Waverly questioned, trying to think back to lunch.

 

“You were probably thinking about Miss Haught.” Chrissy retorted and Waverly opened her mouth to respond before realising that Chrissy was most likely right with her assumption.

 

“You sure they won’t notice we weren’t invited?” Waverly asked, not wanting the distraction from her thoughts about Miss Haught to cause her even more problems at high school.

 

“No, apparently Jack’s older sister is bringing her friends from the city, we can just blend in.” Chrissy said as they turned the street corner and the distant thudding of music filled the air.

 

Chrissy was right, no one was going to notice that they crashed this ‘small get together’. There were people flooding the driveway and the house was filled with half the population of Purgatory. Chrissy smiled, her eyes sparkling as she grabbed Waverly’s hand and slowly pushed through the crowd of people to get into the house.

 

Once inside Chrissy yelled, “I’m gonna go get us some drinks!” over the speakers and Waverly nodded, watching Chrissy weave her way through into the kitchen. Waverly stood and looked around at familiar faces, and some people she had never seen before from out of town, and she smiled. Everyone looked happy, or at least drunk enough to appear that way, and for the first time since school started Waverly wasn’t thinking about Miss Haught. At least not consciously.

 

Soon enough Chrissy came back and handed Waverly a drink in a red cup, and Waverly downed it, not asking what it was. Soon enough her and Chrissy were dancing, the alcohol flowing through their veins as the music blared out around them, the walls shaking from the noise.

 

“I need to pee.” Waverly yelled, Chrissy scrunching her face and she tried to hear Waverly over the music. “I’ll be back in a second.” Waverly gestured as she made her way back to the stairs she saw as she walked into the house. She climbed awkwardly past many couples, and possibly strangers, making out on the staircase. Thankfully Waverly only had one drink, she had learnt her lesson of getting drunk when school was the next morning, so she was sober enough to walk up the stairs without falling. Once she was upstairs Waverly saw a hallway of doors but had no clue which one the bathroom was, so she walked slowly, the music quieting the further away from the stairs she got, and knocked on each door before opening it. The first door she knocked on was a study, the second door she got a response.

 

“Kind of busy in here.” Waverly froze as she recognised the voice. She pushed the door open with unnecessary force, praying she was wrong but knowing, unfortunately, she was right. Waverly saw Champ, tangled up with a girl, a _woman_ that Waverly didn’t recognise. As the door crashed against the wall it swung open onto, Champ stayed still, turning his head with his mouth ready to throw abuse at whoever was disturbing him, and then his eyes caught Waverly’s, and he jumped back. Waverly stood, motionless as Champ scrambled to his feet, words flooding out of his mouth of what Waverly assumed was apologies, and promises it was a drunken mistake and how it would never happen again. But Waverly wasn’t listening. She was looking at the woman who covered herself slowly with the bed sheet. She was pretty, grown up, her jawline was sharp and her eyes were electric. She looked tall, slim, well-built. She was everything Waverly thought she wasn’t.

 

Waverly shook Champs arms off her shoulders and walked out the room, down the stairs and out of the house. She didn’t storm out, she didn’t make a scene and she didn’t run because she knew Champ wouldn’t bother to follow her, he had unfinished business.

 

Waverly didn’t remember getting the bus. She didn’t remember getting home. But that’s where she woke up, the sound of her phone pulling her from her dreams.

 

Chrissy was calling her.

 

_Oh my god Chrissy._

Waverly let her phone ring. She didn’t want to talk. She knew Chrissy would understand so she turned her phone off and rolled over, closing her eyes and tried to fall back to sleep.

 

But only for a second.

 

“So you are alive.” Chrissy said, making Waverly jump out of her skin. “Wynonna let me in.” Chrissy explained as she sat down on the edge of her best friend’s bed.

 

“What are you doing here?” Waverly asked, her voice hoarse from the party.

 

“I talked to Champ.” Chrissy spoke softly, sympathy spread across her face. “I’m sorry hun.” Chrissy whispered as she lied down next to Waverly, pulling her into a hug. The two of them stayed still, letting time tick by as the moment passed.

 

“Are you okay?” Chrissy asked and Waverly took a second before responding.

 

“Yeah, I am.” Waverly laughed to herself as she spoke. “Not like I’ve been here before or anything.”

 

“He really is the worst.” Chrissy said, her arms wrapping tighter around Waverly. “Are you done with him now?”

 

“Yes.” Waverly exhaled as she responded, praying that this time she meant it.

 

“You sure about that?” Chrissy smiled warmly as she spoke, knowing her and Waverly had had this conversation many times before.

 

“I think so.” Waverly smiled back.

 

“You can do so much better than him.”

 

“Can I though? The dating pool in Purgatory isn’t the best Chrissy.” Waverly tried to laugh but the sound that came out was broken, because this wasn’t a joke, this was Waverly’s reality.

 

“When you get out of this hell hole you can find someone who deserves you.” Chrissy whispered, the room drifting into a comfortable silence.

 

“You ready?” Chrissy asked after what felt like forever.

 

“For what?” Waverly asked, confused.

 

“For school.” Chrissy said, sitting up.

 

Waverly rolled over and pulled her blanket over her head. She did not want to go to school. Champ was at school, and half the school would already know about Champ and that woman. Waverly didn’t want everyone to stare at her, again, as she was marked down in history as the fool who stayed with Champ.

 

“Waverly, get up.”

 

Chrissy ended up practically dragging Waverly out of bed and to school, which Wynonna had found highly amusing as it was usually the other way around. Once Waverly got to school she kept her head down and everything was normal, the occasional whisper as she walked past but Waverly just pretended not to hear.

 

She made it through home-room and her first two classes just fine, she had almost forgotten about yesterday until a voice Waverly wished she didn’t know called out her name.

 

 

“Waverly!” Champ called out, but Waverly didn’t stop and wait, she didn’t turn around, she just kept walking, ignoring the pleads and apologies being yelled from behind her. “Can you stop being a bitch for ten seconds and listen to me?”

 

Waverly stopped.

 

She didn’t turn to face Champ until he started speaking again.

 

‘I’m so sorry Waverly, she didn’t mean anyth-“

 

“Stop being a bitch?” Waverly repeated, her words laced in venom. 

 

“You know I didn’t mean that-“

 

“Then why say it.”

 

“Because I wanted you to stop so I could say sorry.” To any by-passer, Champ did look sorry, his big puppy dog eyes, his sunken posture and own stupidity making him look like he cared, like he was actually sorry. But Waverly knew him better than that, she knew it was an act.

 

“Say sorry all you want Champ it won’t make a difference. We’re done.”  Waverly snapped, everyone in the hallway had now stopped to watch. But Waverly wasn’t the only one that snapped.

 

“We’re done?” Champ laughed, his eyes turning cold as he spoke, the act breaking down. “Are you delusional? how many times have you said that?” Waverly sighed and turned around, walking away as Champ yelled behind her. “You’re crazy, just like you’re sister. No one else is going to want to be with you, I don’t see a line of guys waiting to date an Earp!”

 

Waverly didn’t stop walking as she felt the tears stream down her face as Champ’s words dug out all her insecurities.

 

The bell rang the second Waverly walked through the classroom door, her face stained with tears and her hands shaking. The class fell silent and everyone just stared for a second before Miss Haught spoke up.

 

“Okay class, today we’re…” Waverly moved to her seat and got her book out. As the class went on eyes looked away from her and to the front of the room where Miss Haught was teaching. Waverly noticed Miss Haught glancing over in her direction, but she was crying, it would be weird if she wasn’t staring. Waverly wouldn’t be surprised if Miss Haught was happy she was crying.

 

Waverly did her best to listen, to take in what Miss Haught was saying, but she couldn’t. Her head repeating Champ’s words, _no one else is going to want to be with you._ Maybe he was right, no one ever seemed to want to date Waverly. At party’s all the guys want to get with Chrissy but never her. Maybe Champ was the best she could ever do.

 

Waverly looked up when she felt Chrissy’s hand on her shoulder, but before Chrissy could speak Miss Haught spoke up.

 

“Waverly, can I speak to you for a second?”

 

That’s when Waverly noticed the classroom was empty, expect for her, Chrissy and Miss Haught.

 

Chrissy looked down at Waverly who nodded slowly and Chrissy left the classroom.

 

“Waverly.” Miss Haught said crouching down next to Waverly, her voice was soft and Waverly looked up from the desk and she felt her stomach clench as she looked into Nicole’s eyes, her vision slightly blurred from the tears still streaming down her face but she could still see the gentle expression on her teachers face. “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”.

 

“Nothing’s wrong.” Waverly mumbled, wiping the tears off her face, Nicole smiled softly at her response.

 

“If nothing is wrong would you like to explain why you haven’t taken any notes?” Waverly laughed slightly, knowing that her crying was a much bigger sign that something was wrong than her not taking notes, but a joke made things a little easier.

 

“It’s just…” Waverly begun but soon realised she wouldn’t be able to tell Nicole what happened without crying harder, which she didn’t want to do. Nicole seemed to notice this and cut Waverly off.

 

‘It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me.” Nicole’ voice was soothing and calm, and as she spoke Nicole placed her hand gently on Waverly’s arm and Waverly’s body tensed under the touch, sparks shooting over her skin and sending a shiver straight down her spine as Nicole continued. “Do you know what I do when I’m upset?” Nicole asked, her voice calming, and Waverly shook her head, trying to relax as Nicole held her hand against Waverly’s skin. “I go to this little ice cream parlour just on the outskirt of the town, it’s a nice place and it’s somewhere you can go clear your head, if that’s what you need.” Waverly nodded, a small smile on her lips.

 

Nicole stood up, moving her hand away from Waverly’s arm and Waverly nearly sighed at the loss.

 

“If you ever need to talk though, I am here.” Nicole said softly, moving back to her desk as Waverly headed to the door.

 

“Thanks.” Waverly whispered, leaving the classroom with a smile on her face. Maybe Nicole didn’t hate her as much as she thought.

 

Chrissy was waiting outside the room, her facial expression switching from concerned to confused as she saw Waverly smiling.

 

“You okay?” Chrissy asked, walking up to Waverly who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.

 

“Yeah, I am actually.” Chrissy didn’t say anything back, happy that Waverly was laughing and not crying.

 

Waverly spent the rest of the day with a smile stuck to her face, ignoring the stares and whispers that followed her around the school. Anytime she started to feel hurt her mind would constantly go back to that conversation with Nicole and the smile would just appear on her face.

 

“What you are grinning at?” Chrissy asked, glancing over to where Waverly’s eyes had been blankly looking at.

 

“Just at what Nic-…Miss Haught said earlier.” Waverly responded, perfect teeth showing with her smile.

 

“God, she is all you ever talk about, it’s like you’re in love with her or something.” Chrissy laughed and Waverly laughed too, ignoring the fact it felt like she just got punched full force in her gut.

 

_It’s like you’re in love with her_

 

Waverly tried to brush it off, joining in the with laughter, but her thoughts went crazy. Chrissy was crazy, right? Okay yes, Waverly couldn’t shut up about her, she was constantly thinking about Nicole, desperate for her to like her and the way it felt when Nicole touched her arm and…

 

_Fuck me I’m in love with my teacher._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Waverly finally noticed she's crushin on Nicole, time to get this slow burn on the road. (Also sorry for the lack of Nicole this chapter but 1. Champ needed to be dumped and shown to be an ass. 2. I'm hoping the soft bit at the end made up for it??)
> 
> All comments and Kudos' (especially comments tho) are loved and appreciated and tend to make me wanna write more so please feel free to leave them here
> 
> (please ignore any spelling errors as I am slightly sleep deprived and spelling is not something I'm good at when I've slept eight hours never mind two) 
> 
> x


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enjoy the momentary fluff which gets taken away and replaced with angst

 

_everyone has a chapter they don’t read aloud_

 

* * *

   
_It’s just a crush, it is not that big of a deal._ Waverly told herself for the thousandth time, hoping this time she would listen to herself. She knew that everyone had crushes, and it was common to crush on a teacher. It was logical, being attracted to someone of authority, it was normal.

 

But that didn’t mean it wasn’t driving Waverly insane. The more she tried not to think about Nicole, the more she thought about her, and whilst Waverly did not mind the thoughts, at all, she couldn’t help but feel _wrong._ She felt like everyone could read her mind, like she would be judged for liking a teacher, especially a woman, someone who she knew she really shouldn’t like _like that_.

 

“What you doing over Christmas break then?” Wynonna said, crashing down next to Waverly on the couch, a mischievous smile spread across her face.

 

“Nothing really, why? What are you doing?” Waverly asked, questioning the smile on her sister’s face.

 

“I’ve got nothing planned baby-girl.” Wynonna said, her eyes telling a different story to her words. “You not got any plans with Chrissy or Champ?”

 

Champ. Waverly still hadn’t told Wynonna about that.

 

“I’ll probably meet up with Chrissy at some point.”

 

“Not Champ?” Wynonna asked, her head leaning slightly to the side as Waverly did her best to avioid eye contact. She did not want to tell her sister, she knew how Wynonna would react, and it would not be pretty.

 

“No.” Waverly replied, knowing there was no way Wynonna was going to drop it, so she said what her sister was waiting to hear. “We broke up.”

 

“Oh god, I’m sorry I didn’t know!” Wynonna said, pulling her sister in for a tight hug, loosening her grip as the clogs ticked in her brain. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

Silence.

 

Wynonna pulled further back and Waverly cast her eyes down.

 

“Waverly? What did that son of a bitch do?” Wynonna was already off the couch, ready to beat the living shit out of Champ, and as much as Waverly wanted to see that happen, she couldn’t let Wynonna do that. “Did he hurt you? Where the hell is that piece of-“

 

“Wynonna calm down, he didn’t hurt me.” Wynonna stopped, turning to face Waverly who had stood from the couch, waiting for the younger Earp to explain why her and Champ had broken up. “He just...cheated on me.”

 

Wynonna's mouth dropped open and her fists clenched by her sides.

 

“That dead son of a bitch.”

 

“Again.” Waverly added with a whisper, dropping back down onto the couch. She had half excepted Wynonna to lose it right there and then, but she didn’t. Wynonna’s posture slouched, and she sat down gently next to Waverly.

 

“You deserve so much better than that pathetic excuse of a man.” Wynonna said, her voice serious and full of an affection that Waverly sometimes forgot was there, and Waverly felt her eyes fill with tears as Wynonna hugged her once more, gently holding her as they elapsed into a comfortable silence.

 

“So, no plans huh?” Wynonna asked after a while, breaking the silence around them.

 

“Well, I have do have one thing planned.”

 

* * *

 

Waverly couldn’t help but smile as she stepped into the ice cream parlour, it was just like walking into your typical teenage movie cliché, and Waverly loved it.

 

“Hi, can I help you?” A waitress asked as Waverly stood in awe of the hundreds of overly decorated cakes in front of her. Waverly pulled her eyes away from the incredible deserts to see the woman speaking to her. She was wearing a small red dress with a white apron on her front, a small name tag with ‘Katie’ written in cursive across it. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back into a perfect bun, freckles dusted across her skin and smile that could shatter the coldest of hearts. She looked like she had just stepped out of a movie, or perhaps Waverly had just stepped into one.

 

“Yeah, sorry, umm table for one please.” Waverly said, suddenly embarrassed that she came alone, but the smile on the waitress’s face showed that she was not the first to come here alone.

 

Waverly was shown to a red and white booth and given a menu filled with every sweet tooth’s dream. She could come here every day for the rest of her life and she wouldn’t get through the whole menu, the number of deserts, milkshakes and combinations that you could have in one place was insane.

 

Waverly wasn’t sure how long she had been drooling over the menu when a voice behind her startled her.

 

“The chocolate milkshake is best, it’s a classic.” Waverly froze, her body stiffening at the voice practically whispering in her ear.

 

Nicole Haught.

 

The redhead walked around to stand next to Waverly’s booth, a small smile on her lips as Waverly forgot how to breathe.

 

“Surprise to see you here Miss Earp.” Nicole said, her voice seemed sincere, as if she hadn’t accepted Waverly to come. If she had known that Waverly was here, would she had come?

 

“I could say the same to you Miss Haught.” Waverly nearly clasped her hand over her mouth as the sentence left her mouth, she had not planned to say that, at all. But Nicole smiled, a smile Waverly could look at for… _this is not the time for that_ Waverly thought to herself, dragging her eyes away from her teachers smile. Nicole was wearing dark blue skinny jean, a black tank top with a red and black open flannel on top. Words didn't do her justice.

 

“Anyway, I’ll leave you too it.” Nicole said, turning on her heels to walk away, but before Waverly had time to process the words, they left her mouth like a flood.

 

“How come you’re here?” Waverly asked, her voice portraying more confidence than her hand which were currently shaking in her lap did. Nicole didn’t answer her, her expression slightly confused before Waverly explained herself. “You said you come here when you’re upset, and you’re here now because…?” Nicole’s smile faltered for a second before speaking.

 

“Nothing that concerns you Miss Earp.” Her words were laced with a sarcasm Waverly didn’t know Nicole had, but she could tell she shouldn’t push it.

 

Just as Nicole turned to walk back to her own seat, Waverly spoke up, once again not thinking before she spoke.

 

“If you’re here alone you can sit here with me?” Waverly nearly slapped herself. She wanted Nicole to sit with her, of course she did, Waverly would love an excuse to be with Nicole…Miss Haught. But Waverly also knew that crossed the teacher student boundary, and Nicole knew it too.

 

“I don’t think that’s really appropriate Waverly.” Nicole said, her eyes darting around the room, anywhere but where Waverly was sat.

 

“No-one here knows that you're my teacher, also you’re around my house all the time so how is sitting at a table with me inappropriate?” Waverly said, thankful she was quick at reasoning as she saw Nicole’s lips tug into a smile. _Her lips are just so…_ Waverly cut herself off, feeling her cheeks redden slighty as the thought crossed her mind.

 

“Okay, if you’re sure?” Nicole said as she sat down opposite Waverly.

 

“I’m sure.” Waverly smiled, her heart racing in her chest and her palms sweating under the table. Waverly couldn’t help but notice her body never reacted like this to Champ, it never came close, not with anyone.

 

They sat in silence for a few minutes until the waitress came and took their orders, both women ordering a chocolate milkshake. As the waitress left them alone without a menu to divert their eyes, Waverly realised she had an opportunity. She knew this crush was insane and never going to happen, but maybe talking to Nicole, removing the idealised fantasy that Waverly had made her would help with getting over this crush. Waverly knew nothing about Nicole, she had speculated and guessed and dreamed what Nicole was like but all she had to base off was seeing her teach or seeing her with Wynonna, neither of which told Waverly who the woman sat across from her really was.

 

“So, I can call you Nicole, right?” Waverly asked, already knowing the answer.

 

“Pretty sure you already did that Miss Earp.”

 

“I was just making sure.” Waverly said, intertwining her own fingers to stop them from shaking in her lap. “So, Nicole, why Purgatory?”

 

“What do you mean?” Nicole asked, her smile growing and dimples appearing on her face. Waverly felt her heart melt a little.

 

“I mean, out of all the places in the world you could have gone to teach and you chose hell on earth, I’m asking why?” Waverly asked, bring her elbows onto the table and resting her chin on her hands, her head tilting slightly to the side as she waited for Nicole’s answer.

 

“I came here because to me this isn’t hell, I came from hell, this is a fresh start.” Nicole took a breath, her eyes glazing slightly over as she continued. “Also, there are so many kids here who don’t get a chance in life because no one is expected to do anything big with their life, everyone seems to be stuck in this town and can’t escape it, almost like some sort of curse. It’s not fair to so many kids who don’t get a shot at life because no one is pushing them, and as naive as it sounds I want to change that.”

 

Waverly watched as Nicole’s face soften and she could have sworn her heart exploded right there and then.

 

Before Waverly could reply the waitress came over and gave them their milkshakes, Nicole murmured a thank you and  Waverly stayed silent, she was still entranced in the woman before her.

 

“Sorry, that got a little deeper than intended.” Nicole said with a smile as the waitress walked away, Waverly nearly choking on her milkshake at the word _deeper._ “The milkshakes are good here, aren’t they?”

 

“They really are.” Waverly replied. The two of them fell into a comfortable silence. A silence between a student and teacher who both thought the other hated them should not be comfortable, at all. But it was.

 

It really was.

 

* * *

  

Nicole crashed onto her couch, ignoring the work that needed to be marked, it piling up on her desk. She had two weeks to do it and she deserved a break, or at least that’s what she told herself.

 

Winter break was something Nicole had been looking forward to. She knew teaching here was going to be a challenge, but she hadn’t been expecting the amount of resistance she got from the students and their unwillingness to learn. She also hadn’t expected to spend her first official day of winter break sitting in an ice cream parlour with a student. Out of all the things Nicole had been expecting when she moved here, that hadn’t made the list.

 

Nicole knew Waverly was an incredible girl; smarter than anyone she had ever met and prettier too. And maybe Nicole had been too harsh on her at the start of the school year, but Waverly had shown up to class with the world’s worst hangover and then gone on her phone instead of listening. Nicole had her reasons for not loving the girl. But Nicole had never hated Waverly, she understood that people had bad days. She knew it was likely that Waverly hated her, or at least that’s what she thought until Waverly invited her to sit with her at the parlour.

 

Even though back in Nicole's home town sitting with Waverly would have crossed so many lines, no one seemed to care around here, and it was nice to have… _friends?_ Nicole asked herself, contemplating if her and Waverly were friends. Her and Wynonna were friends, but Nicole wasn’t sure if she could count Waverly as her friend, surely that’s crossing some sort of line.

 

_Not the only line I’d cross._

 

Nicole cursed herself as she let the thought slip through her mind. She knew she shouldn’t think about her student in _that_ way, but when a someone looks like Waverly Earp, it was next to impossible.

 

Just as Nicole was about to let her thoughts go wherever they wanted, her phone rang, pulling her back. Nicole looked down to see an unknown number on her screen, her curiosity getting the better of her as she answered.

 

“Hello?”  Nicole said cautiously, not sure who would be calling her that wasn’t already in her contacts. Her mind praying it was Waverly, but she knew it wasn’t.

 

“Haught, I need you to come get me.” Wynonna’s voice came through the phone, it was a quiet monotone, it’s normal sarcasm lost.

 

“Get you? Where are you?” Nicole asked, her heartbeat quickening slightly.

 

“I’m at the station, I don’t have time to explain just come get me please.” Wynonna said before hanging up the phone, Nicole instantly grabbing her keys and heading to the station.

 

* * *

 

Waverly paced around the kitchen for the thousandth time, looking out the window and praying for Wynonna to pull up and stumble down the drive, a joke ready to roll off her tongue. But Wynonna didn’t appear, she didn’t pick up her phone and no one knew where she was. Waverly had called Shorty’s and Gus but neither knew where she was and Waverly didn't know where else she would be, unless she was at the station, but the station would have called her, they always called her.

 

Waverly usually wouldn’t worry. Ever since their parents left, Wynonna would disappear for a couple days here and there, but that had stopped recently. She was doing better. Waverly had made Wynonna promise to at least call her if she was leaving town for a while, but Wynonna hadn’t called, hadn’t text to cancel their plans, nothing.

 

Just as Waverly was about to walk back to the window her phone rang in her hand, making the younger Earp jump back, nearly dropping the phone. An unknown number flashed on her screen, the phone buzzing in her hand as Waverly’s heart hammered in her chest.

 

“Hello?” Waverly said hesitantly.

 

“Waverly, it’s Nicole.” This time Waverly did drop the phone. “Waverly?”

 

“Nicole, hi, sorry.” Waverly spoke loudly, dropping to floor and grabbing the phone as quick as she could. “How-“ Waverly started, wanting to ask so many questions, but before she had the chance Nicole cut her off.

 

“I’m with Wynonna.”

 

“You’re- is she okay?” Waverly asked, panic rushing from her, Wynonna was safe.

 

“She’s fine, there was a…mix-up.” Nicole spoke quietly, her voice almost strained. “I’ll bring her home now.” 

 

Before Waverly could respond she heard the line go dead, Nicole having hung up the phone, leaving Waverly to drown in unanswered questions until she head the low noises of Nicole’s car.

 

Waverly rushed out of the house and to the car, pulling Wynonna into a hug before she was properly out of the car.

 

“Where the hell have you been? What happened? Are you okay?” Waverly spoke quickly, stumbling over her own words. She took a step back from Wynonna, looking properly at her sister. Even in the dim light she looked beyond exhausted, her eyes drooping and her jaw clenched slightly. “Don’t answer that.” Waverly whispered, putting her arms around Wynonna’s waist and walking with her to the house.

 

Waverly could see Nicole out of the corner of her eye getting back into her car, so Waverly clicked her fingers behind her back and awkwardly pointed, best she could, towards the house, hoping Nicole got the message. The car door shut and Nicole’s footsteps followed Waverly up to the door.

 

Wynonna didn’t speak, she just shook herself lose from Waverly’s grasp and slowly walked to her room, closing the door behind her, leaving Nicole and Waverly stood alone in the doorway.

 

“What…” Waverly began, not sure what question to ask first, but Nicole seemed to sense that so she spoke up.

  
  
“She overheard some of the guys in your grade talking about you and her, and your family. Apparently, she lost it.” Nicole said softly, Waverly feeling as though she was being crushed, her stomach twisting her breathing became short and sharp.

 

“She didn’t…hurt anyone, did she?” Waverly asked quietly, walking over to the couch and slowly lowering herself into it.

 

“No, from what I heard it sounded like she was gonna, but some guys she knows from Shorty’s stopped her.” Nicole said, her voice concerned. Waverly had gone pale, her hands starting to tremble slightly as she sunk lower into the couch. "Waverly?" Nicole didn't need to say anymore, Waverly knew what she was asking.

 

What those boys had said, why Wynonna had nearly beaten them for it, why no one was lining up to date  _an Earp_. 

 

"When I was really young my family had a reputation for being unstable. My father believed in demons that chased him, a curse set on our family, but no one believed him and he didn't take that well. He never slept, constantly waiting for the demons, pushing Willa to take on from him when he died. My mother left him, Willa left as soon as she could, they left us. Me and Wynonna tried to help him but it just got worse and, um he killed himself a couple years later. Wynonna was eighteen when he died, so she became my guardian. It was all a bit much, it got to us all but it hit Wynonna hardest because she wanted to believe him, and she was so close to our mother. No one knows the whole, so they make jokes." Waverly had started to cry at some point, the tears rolling freely down her cheek. She hadn't told anyone that, she always said her dad had a heart attack and her mother got a job somewhere abroad. She never trusted anyone enough to not judge her, call her crazy or leave. But with Nicole, she hadn't even though about it, she just started talking. 

 

"I'm so sorry Waverly, I had no idea." Nicole said, moving her hand to rest it on Waverly's thigh. What had been intended as a sign of understanding and caring had sent sparks through both women. Waverly smiled slightly as Nicole's hand didn't pull a way but instead relaxed a little.

 

"It's okay, no one really knows." Waverly said, brushing her hands over her face and took a sharp breath. "Thank you for getting Wynonna, you're so good for her." Waverly didn't want Nicole's hand to move, she had wanted the redhead's hand to trace small patterns as they watched a movie, but Waverly stood and Nicole's hand fell.

 

"I'm glad she has someone." Nicole said, a sympathetic smile on her face, her eyes gentle. 

 

Waverly followed Nicole to the door, they said goodbye without words, and Waverly watched Nicole walk to the car, smiling when Nicole turned back to look at her. Waverly closed the door and turned the lock before heading to Wynonna's room and knocking softly. She knew Wynonna wasn't going to respond, but she opened the door slowly anyway, moving into the dark room filled with muffled cries and Wynonna's shaking body. Waverly curled next to her, holding her sister like Wynonna used to hold her until they fell asleep and the crying stopped.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading and hope you're enjoying this so far 
> 
> x


	5. Chapter 5

 

_maybe one day, we can be something_

 

* * *

 

Waverly woke to Wynonna curled in her arms, breathing steadily as she slept, her problems disappearing for just a moment. Waverly didn’t want to move and wake her, but she could tell by the sun seeping into the room she needed to get up.

 

Wynonna rolled away as Waverly pulled herself from the bed, thankfully it did not wake her sister, and she quietly left the bedroom.

 

It was the first week day of winter break, and whilst Waverly knew she had two weeks to do all her assignments, she liked to do things before the deadline. So, she went to her room and grabbed her books, carefully dragging them down the stairs before she hit a problem. The table she was going to do her work on was covered in dirty dishes and empty bottles that Wynonna had left over the last couple of weeks.

 

It was moments like this, when Waverly found herself spending hours cleaning up after her sisters mess, when Waverly felt like she was Wynonna’s guardian.

 

Maybe if things were different, if her family hadn't ended up like this, Wynonna would have been okay.

 

A part of Waverly was glad that she could do things for her sister, Wynonna needed someone to rely on, and she was always there for her sister. But she wished Wynonna would just do the basics.

 

By the time Waverly had finished cleaning the entire kitchen, her stomach had begun growling at her, so she cooked breakfast for both her and Wynonna, brining it through to her sister who was still sound asleep.

 

“Wynonna?” Waverly whispered as she sat down on the bed, a plate pancakes in her hands. “I made you some pancakes if you want some?”

 

Wynonna pulled her duvet further around herself, ignoring Waverly’s offer.

 

“I’ll leave them here in case you change your mind.” Waverly mumbled, putting the pancakes down on her bedside table and leaving the room once more.

 

Waverly knew that her sister was going to need some time, unfortunately this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, she just needed to be patient with Wynonna.

 

When Waverly sat down at the now clean table, getting her books out to start her school work, there was a knock on the door. It was quiet, hesitant almost. Waverly sighed before putting down her book, not wanting to answer the door, and for a second she nearly didn’t. But, like always, curiosity got the better of Waverly.

 

Maybe if she had thought it through, Waverly wouldn’t have been so shocked when she opened the door to Nicole. Maybe Waverly should have realised Nicole would be worried about her friend and coming to see if she was okay was a sweet thing to do, which Nicole was. Maybe, just maybe, if Waverly had actually thought about who was at the door for a split second she wouldn’t be stood with her mouth hung open, staring at Nicole as the older woman smiled gently.

 

“Is it alright if I come in?” Nicole asked after a few moments, Waverly still not responding, her mind having been put in overdrive. “Waverly?”

 

This time Waverly did hear her and took a step to the side, her face starting to blush as she let Nicole past her, their arms brushing slightly and Waverly had to hold back the sharp inhale she wanted to take.

 

“Is she alright?” Nicole asked once inside and Waverly had closed the door, turning to face her.

 

“Yeah, she just needs some time.” Waverly explained, an unintentional smile slowly spreading across her face. Just looking at Nicole made her smile, she couldn’t help it. “Do you want a drink or anything?”

“Some water would be nice.” Nicole responded, following Waverly through to the kitchen, noticing the books spread around the table. “Is it not a little early in the break to be doing school work?”

 

“As my teacher, I’m not sure you can say that.” Waverly laughed, passing Nicole a glass of water before walking to the couch in the next room, Nicole following her. “Aren’t you supposed to encourage me to do school work?”

 

“Yeah but you are supposed to take a break during winter _break_.” Nicole said, sitting down on the couch after Waverly who couldn’t help but notice how close Nicole was. If she moved her leg just a little it would be touching Nicole’s. “Waverly, are you okay?” Waverly looked up slightly, Nicole’s face covered in concern, “You kind of zoned out, again.”

 

“Yeah, sorry, I’m fine.” Waverly said, her voice coming out slightly squeaky, which was definitely not intended.

 

“You sure? You can talk to me about whatever it is?” Nicole said, shifting slightly so her body was facing slightly more towards Waverly.

 

Waverly swallowed the lump in her throat before speaking.

 

“It’s alright, I’m okay.” Waverly put on her best smile, but Nicole just raised her eyebrow, looking straight through her as if Waverly was made of glass, reading her like a book. Even Wynonna believed Waverly’s best smile, but apparently Nicole did not buy it.

 

“Well, if you ever want to talk about whatever is bothering you I’m always around.” Nicole said, standing up, Waverly following in her lead. “Anyway, if Wynonna’s alright I better get going.” Waverly felt her heart rate quicken and her shoulders dropped. She wasn’t going to see Nicole for two weeks. She had been dreading these two weeks for that reason, and now Nicole was here, but she’s leaving already and-

 

“Any chance you have minute, I kind of need some help with my English assignment.” Waverly’s words poured out of her so fast she was surprised that Nicole even understood what she was saying. But Nicole heard her, stopping in her path and turning around, her lips turned up in a small smile. A smile of understanding. Waverly did not need help with her English assignment. Waverly knew that, and Nicole knew that. But neither pointed it out. They both knew what they were doing was not doing them any good, keeping their distance would be smart. Maybe if they knew they felt the same way they would have taken a step back. Waverly thought nothing could never happen, no one like Nicole would ever like her. Nicole knew she couldn’t do anything even if she wanted to, even though you can cross most the lines in Purgatory, she was pretty sure she could not cross this one.

 

So, Nicole stayed and helped Waverly.

 

Hours past, the assignment done, take away eaten and Nicole and Waverly walked towards the front door, a comfortable silence around them. And that’s when it hit Waverly, they’d basically just had a date without even realising it, hours laughing, eating junk food and talking about any and everything. Pro-longed eye contact and cute smiles, butterflies in stomachs and the hope of more.

 

Once they reached the door, Nicole turned around, time seeming to slow down and almost freeze.

  
  
Maybe Waverly was crazy, or maybe she was just imagining things, but she could have sworn Nicole was leaning toward her, her eyes glued to her lips.

 

And maybe in another universe Waverly would have known, maybe Wynonna wouldn’t have walked in at that exact moment.

 

“Haught.” Wynonna said, Waverly’s head snapping around to see her sister leaning against the wall behind her. “Thank you.”

 

Nicole nodded her head, looking back towards Waverly before turning around and opening the door.

 

Waverly took a second, trying to register what she had just heard over her heartbeat.

 

“Thank you?” Waverly questioned, walking over to Wynonna.

 

“Doesn’t matter baby-girl.”

 

* * *

 

 

Waverly didn’t see Nicole for the rest of the break. In fact, she didn’t leave the homestead. The two weeks had felt like an eternity. After a couple of days Waverly had done all her work, practised and perfected her cheerleading and Wynonna was basically back to normal. So, Waverly was actually glad when her alarm went off for school.

 

She used to be slightly excited for lessons and seeing Chrissy, but Waverly knew why she was so exited now. Why the thought of her third class made her stomach flip. She had spent the last two weeks, unintentionally, overanalysing and overthinking the day she had spent with Nicole. Everything the redhead had said, every little movement or heavy breath she did, Waverly over thought and prayed about.

 

_Maybe she likes me too._

Waverly knew she sounded like a second grader, praying her crush liked her back, but she couldn’t help it. She wasn’t in control of her thoughts when it came to Nicole.

 

“Morning.” Wynonna half said half shouted as she opened Waverly’s door with an unnecessary force. “You need a lift to school this morning?” Waverly smiled, she had missed Wynonna over the last two weeks. It hurt her to see Wynonna broken down, so seeing her normal sarcastic and slightly destructive Wynonna was amazing.

 

“Yeah please, if you don’t mind.”

 

“No problem at all, I’ll go get us breakfast whilst you get dressed, don’t want you being late.” Wynonna said, stepping back out of Waverly’s room.

 

“Wynonna?” Waverly called after her, the older Earp spinning on her heels. “Are you going to be okay?”

 

“I’ll be just fine.” Wynonna grinned, her usual charm fully restored as she practically jumped out of Waverly’s room and down the stairs.

 

Waverly got dressed as quick as she could, joining Wynonna downstairs and grabbing a waffle as quick as she could.

 

“Woah, slow down! We’ve got time.” Wynonna laughed as Waverly inhaled her waffle, already grabbing her school bag as Wynonna took her second bite.

 

“Come on, I don’t want to be late.”  Waverly said through a mouthful of food.

 

Her sentence could be roughly translated to; I want to get to school and see Nicole.

 

Thankfully Wynonna did hurry and Waverly was in school earlier than usual, going to her locker and grabbing her books before going the long way to homeroom. The long way which just happened to pass by Nicole’s classroom. Waverly tiptoed slightly to see through the glass in the centre of the closed door, praying to catch a glimpse of the redhead. But much to Waverly’s dismay, the classroom was empty.

 

Time seemed to slow down after that, making every passing minute feel like an hour. Waverly wondered if Nicole's class would ever come around. Eventually homeroom began and Chrissy walked in, sitting down next to Waverly.

 

“Hey, how was your winter break?” Chrissy asked, smiling but Waverly knew that there was something wrong in her smile. This was the first school break where Waverly and Chrissy hadn’t met up, and Waverly hadn’t even thought about it until now.

 

“It was alright thanks. How was yours?” Waverly responded, her voice too high, fake almost.

 

“It was good thanks.” Chrissy paused before adding. “Are you okay?”

 

Waverly didn’t know how to respond. Was she okay? Technically she was, there was nothing wrong with her. Wynonna was the on who hadn’t been okay, but she was now. Chrissy hadn’t asked about Wynonna, she had asked Waverly. Waverly was okay, expect for the fact her mind was consumed by a certain redhead, but she was still okay.

 

“Yeah, I’m good. Had some troubles with Wynonna but it’s all good now.” Waverly explained her absence over the break and Chrissy’s expression switched from concern to understanding.

 

“Right, I’m glad it’s okay now.”

 

For the rest of homeroom Waverly debated telling Chrissy about her crush on Nicole, well, Miss Haught. Best friends were supposed to tell each other this sort of stuff, crushes and secrets, but Waverly wasn’t sure if she could say it aloud. It would be real, something she would have to deal with, get over, and Waverly didn’t want to do that.

 

“I’ll see you in English.” Chrissy said, standing up and leaving the room, everyone following, Waverly having not heard the bell followed everyone in purist.

 

* * *

 

 

Nicole had been slightly dreading her third class, Waverly’s class. The class itself wasn’t too bad in comparison to the younger grades, but Nicole was not sure if she could see Waverly.

 

She had gone around to see Wynonna and make sure she was okay but ended spending the entire day with Waverly. Since then Nicole had been desperately trying to remove the brunette from her thoughts and failing miserably, replaying every conversation in her head and wondering how someone could be so intelligent and funny and beautiful at the same time.

 

The bell rang and Nicole shook her head slightly. Waverly is her student. She can’t think about her like that.

 

The students started to file in and Nicole turned to write down the discussion topic on the board, turning back around and making instant eye contact Waverly. Nicole looked away like it was a reflex. Just eye contact with her made Nicole blush slightly.

 

No one had this effect on Nicole, never. Yet this girl had her cheeks flushing from a second glance.

 

God Nicole was in so much trouble.

 

* * *

 

 

Waverly was getting frustrated, she couldn’t understand why Nicole wasn’t acknowledging her. When Waverly put her hand up it was ignored, Nicole made eye contact with every student in the class but her, it was like she was invisible. It was worse than when Waverly thought Nicole hated her.

 

By the time the bell rang Waverly was past the point of being a tiny bit angry, her breathing was harsher than normal and her confidence was sky-high.

 

“Hey, you coming to lunch?” Chrissy asked, walking past Waverly’s desk.

 

“Yeah I’ll be there in a minute.” Waverly replied, packing her books up slower than necessary, making sure she was the last one in the class room. Then Waverly headed towards the door, but instead of stepping out of it, she shut it gently, speaking as she did so, “Can I talk to you for a minute Miss Haught?”

 

“Sure Waverly, is everything alright?” Nicole spoke in her best teacher voice, turning to face Waverly, trying to hide the confusion as to why Waverly had shut the door.

 

“Oh, so you can hear me? I’m not invisible then?” Waverly’s words were laced in venom, her hands shaking slightly.

 

“What do you me-“

 

“Why did you ignore me for the whole lessons? What, friends outside of school but can’t even look at me in a classroom?” Waverly was loud, her voice trembling slightly, her eyes filling with tears.

  
  
“Waves, please don’t.”

 

  _Waves._

 

Waverly’s heart skipped a beat.

 

“Don’t what? Ask you what your problem is with me?” Waverly took a step towards Nicole as she spoke. The teacher taking a slight step back so she was leaning against the front of her desk.

 

“I don’t have a problem with you.” Nicole said quietly.

 

“What is it then?” Waverly said, taking another step towards Nicole. They were close now, if Waverly reached out slight she could touch Nicole.

 

“I…” Nicole started, words failing her. Waverly could practically hear Nicole’s heartbeat racing, the tension in the room was getting unbearable.

 

“You what Nicole?” Waverly didn’t shout this time, her voice was low and she took another step forward, into Nicole’s space.

  
  
“I can’t do this Waverly.” Nicole whispered, her voice breaking as bit her lip, Waverly holding back a moan as she did so.

 

They were stood so close, their bodies almost touching, Nicole’s eyes had fallen closed, Waverly’s hands were shaking, their breaths short and their hearts hammering in their chests.

 

And maybe they would have done something they both would have regretted.

 

Or maybe their lives would have changed for the better.

 

Maybe if the bell hadn't rang at that exact moment, something might have happened.

 

Maybe.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for the cliffhanger BUT I love them so much, they're fun (I'll make it up to you next chapter promise)
> 
> Anyway, thank you guys for the support with this fic so far, please let me know if you're enjoying it as all and every comment is really appreciated!!
> 
> I'll update hopefully within the next week 
> 
> x


	6. Chapter 6

 

_once is a mistake, twice is a choice._

 

* * *

 

Waverly couldn’t sit still, her mind far too busy to focus on the homework she was trying to complete. Her head insistent on replaying every moment with Nicole, wondering if the bell had stopped her making a mistake, or if it had stopped her from… a relationship? Waverly shook her head slightly, she knew her and Nicole could not be in a relationship, it wasn’t possible. But that didn’t mean a girl couldn’t dream.

 

The knock on the door made Waverly jump, not expecting anyone but Wynonna, who should have her key. But Wynonna forgetting or losing her key was not uncommon, so Waverly jumped off the couch, walking to the front door and opening it.

 

“Waverly.” Nicole said, Waverly trying her best not to be surprised. Of course, it was Nicole. Waverly should have seen this coming. She had taken her makeup off, changed into her sweats and her hair was tided in a messy bun on top of her head, her croc top showing more skin than she originally thought as the wind from outside blew against her bare stomach, leaving a trail of goose bumps. If there was a God he was currently having fun with Waverly. “Um, Is Wynonna here?” Nicole said, stumbling on her words, her eyes looking anywhere apart from Waverly’s midriff. It made Waverly smile, it was nice to know she was having the same effect on Nicole as Nicole was having on her.

 

“No, she’s not come home yet.” Waverly responded, her voice shaking a little, maybe cause of the winter breeze blowing around her, or maybe because Nicole was stood at her doorstep in a pair of tight skinny jeans and a flannel shirt with the top few buttons undone. Waverly wondered if Nicole was actually here for Wynonna, her sister having not mentioned that she had plans with Nicole. Waverly hoped Nicole had come for her, but she knew that the hope was naïve.

 

“Oh, right.” Nicole said, her eyes darting, avoiding Waverly’s. They both stood for a moment, neither sure what to say but neither wanting this to end. Whatever this was. Nicole broke the silence, “Can you tell Wynonna I was he-“

 

“You can come in, wait for her here?” Waverly cut Nicole off, stopping the woman in her tracks as she turned back towards her car. ‘If you want?”

 

“Waverly, are you sure that’s…” Nicole stopped, lost for words, but Waverly knew what she was trying to say. But Waverly decided to have some fun with the woman stood in front of her, make light of the situation, that’s what she was good at.

 

“That’s what?” Waverly titled her head to the side, her eyes going soft, giving Nicole her best puppy eyes and Nicole couldn’t help but smile.

 

“Appropriate.” Nicole said, yet she didn’t turn to leave. She didn’t want to, and Waverly knew it.

 

“You’re just waiting for Wynonna to come home, nothing inappropriate about that.” Waverly said sweetly, sticking her best ‘I want the teacher to like me’ smile on as she spoke. Nicole could have asked where Wynonna was and gone to her, Nicole could have just said no and left, she could have done a million different things, but she didn’t. She stayed.

 

“You sure you don’t mind?” Nicole asked as she stepped past Waverly.

 

“Not at all.” Waverly nearly laughed. She really did not mind in the slightest.

 

Nicole stood awkwardly behind Waverly as the younger girl shut the door. Waverly turned around, her and Nicole making eye contact for the first time since Nicole arrived on the doorstep, and Waverly’s heart skipped a beat. She never thought eye contact could be so powerful, so emotional, but standing and looking at Nicole made her forget where she was, who she was, just for a second.

 

“Make yourself at home.” Waverly said and she couldn’t help laughing slightly to herself as she walked back through the house and to the couch. If someone had told her at the start of the school year that she’d be spending her evening with Miss Haught waiting for Wynonna to come home she would not have believed them. If someone had told her she would have feelings for Miss Haught she would have laughed at them. If someone had told her that Miss Haught, Nicole might have feelings for her too, she would have called them crazy.

 

Waverly pulled her laptop onto her lap, opening the document for her homework for the thousandth time that evening, knowing if she couldn’t concentrate before, there was no chance she was going to be able to do it now Nicole was here. Waverly looked up as she saw Nicole in the corner of her vision, the redhead sitting down at the furthest possible point from Waverly on the couch. If she was trying to be smooth about the fact she was avoiding Waverly, she was failing miserably.

 

“I don’t bite you know?” Waverly said with a grin, Nicole’s cheeks flushing red, contrasting with her pale skin. Waverly smiled as Nicole shuffled slightly towards her, the redhead’s body stiff and straight, and if Waverly wasn’t seeing things; Nicole was shaking slightly. Maybe because of the cold, _or maybe because she likes you._ Waverly let the thought take over her, consume her. Waverly had spent weeks, months even, thinking Nicole had hated her. Then again, Waverly knew it was a very thin line between love and hate.

 

After a while Nicole relaxed, her posture slumping into the couch and her hands relaxing from the clenched position they were in. Waverly didn’t speak, pretending to be busy with her homework, glancing at Nicole at every given opportunity, waiting for her to break the silence. Eventually Nicole spoke up, “What are you working on?”

 

“Biology.” Waverly replied, she wasn’t going to keep up the conversation, despite wanting to. She wanted to see if Nicole cared at all, if Nicole would keep talking. Thankfully she did.

 

“You do biology?” Nicole asked, surprised, her head turning to face Waverly.

 

“Yep.” Waverly looked up from her laptop, a smile instantly spreading across her face as she saw Nicole. She looked genuinely interested and it made Waverly’s stomach flip.

 

“Why?”

 

“What do you mean why?” Waverly was confused, biology was interesting, why wouldn’t she take it.

 

“It’s your senior year, you’re supposed to relax a little, take the easy classes and get by.”

 

“Have I ever mentioned what an encouraging teacher you are.” Nicole laughed at that and Waverly’s heart exploded, Nicole’s laugh was so…perfect.

 

“You know what I mean, I know for a fact you have more than enough credits, so why are you doing this to yourself?”

 

“Because, it is interesting and it looks really good when I apply to colleges.” Waverly said and Nicole nodded.

 

“Fair enough.” Waverly thought that they were going to lapse back into silence, but Nicole continued, “I was good at biology.”

 

“You were?”

 

“You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

 

“Sorry about that, you just don’t strike me as…”  
  
“What? Smart?”

 

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” Waverly laughed as Nicole dramatically raised her hands above her head, dropping them with a loud thud and a large sigh. The air knocking Waverly’s paper and sheets off the couch and onto the floor.

 

“Shit, sorry.” Nicole said, getting up and crouching down, grabbing the papers off the floor, Waverly doing the same.

 

“It’s okay.” Waverly said, reaching for the last piece of paper on the floor. Just as Waverly’s hand reached the paper, Nicole’s did too. Waverly had always questioned things like fate and density, but maybe this was it. When their hands touched, neither woman pulled back, but they both looked up at one another, Waverly drowning in the hazel eyes staring back her. They both stood up, silent, Waverly’s heart beating faster than any metaphor could compare, their hands still touching.  


Waverly took the paper out of Nicole’s hand, placing it down on the couch next to them before turning back to Nicole, replacing the paper with her own hands, lacing her fingers between Nicole’s, pulling the redhead closer. Within a moment their bodies were flush together, Nicole leaning down slightly, her forehead resting on Waverly’s, her breathing heavy.

 

“ _Waves”_ Nicole whispered, her eyes falling closed and her hands trembling within Waverly’s.  

 

“ _Nicole_.” Waverly whispered back, watching the smile curve on Nicole’s lips. Waverly let go of Nicole’s hands, moving one of her own to Nicole’s waist, the other gently pushing a strand of red hair behind Nicole’s ear, tracing her jaw line gently and then moving her hand to the back of her neck. Nicole’s eyes opened, just for a second, looking at Waverly and knowing there was no way she could stop this happening.

 

“We can’t.” Nicole said as she tried to reason, she talking to herself more than Waverly.

 

“I know.” Waverly whispered back before closing the space between them, her lips softly brushing over Nicole’s and Waverly’s heart stopped. She finally understood why everyone made a big deal out of this, her stomach was filled with butterflies and her head spinning as Nicole kissed her back. Everything was soft, gentle, caring, Nicole’s hands moving from her side to Waverly’s hips, then slowly running up her figure, tracing Waverly’s bare arms with her fingers, the action sending sparks across Waverly’s skin.

 

Waverly ran her hands through Nicole’s hair, her grasp tightening as Nicole’s teeth dragged across her bottom lip and Waverly felt Nicole shudder against her. It could have been two seconds since they started kissing, it could have been two hours, Waverly had lost any concept of time, the world becoming a distant memory as Nicole’s lips moved against her own. It felt like they had been made for each, both just _knowing_ what the other wanted. Maybe this was fate.

 

Nicole pulled back, her head still resting on Waverly’s, her hands still holding the brunette’s hips. Waverly could hear Nicole’s slight pants as the redhead tried to catch her breath. When Waverly opened her eyes, she couldn’t help but smile at Nicole who was looking back at her, the smile instantly replicating on Nicole’s face.

 

Nicole looked gorgeous, her face flushed, her eyes dark, her lips slightly swollen from their kiss. If someone had told Waverly a couple months ago she would be here, stood in front of Miss Haught as the redhead tried to catch her breath, her arms around Waverly, she would have called them fucking delusional.

 

Waverly could hear her heartbeat in her ears, her mind suddenly going into overdrive, asking questions she didn’t know or want the answer to.

 

_What is going to happen next? Can we even be in a relationship? Is that what Nicole wants?_

But before Waverly got a chance to say anything, the front door crashed open, Nicole dropping her arms and Waverly quickly stepping back.

 

“Haught-stuff, you’re here!” Wynonna’s words slurred slightly. She walked through the door, holding the wall for support as she stumbled. “You ready?”

 

“Yeah.” Nicole said, not turning around to face Wynonna, her eyes still glued on Waverly who was now sheepishly looking at the floor.

 

“Good!’ Wynonna yelled, her arms shooting up in what Waverly assumed was a victory of some sort. “Let’s go!”

 

Nicole stood for a moment longer before turning around, holding Wynonna as they walked out, probably going to Shorty’s. Waverly kept her head down until she heard the door click closed.

 

Waverly sat back down on the couch, pulling her laptop onto her lap and opening her homework back up for approximately three seconds before snapping the laptop shut. There was no way she was getting her homework done, not now. Her mind was preoccupied with replaying the last ten minutes over and over again.

 

* * *

 

 

Waverly didn’t remember falling asleep, or Wynonna coming home, but she woke up to a loud clash from behind her, causing Waverly to have a mini heart attack.

 

“Shit, sorry.” Wynonna said from the kitchen, picking up the frying pan from the floor. “Pancakes?”

 

Waverly laughed slightly, her heart rate calming as she replied, “Sure, thanks.” Waverly got off the couch and walked around to the kitchen, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she pulled herself onto the counter, watching Wynonna make a mess that Waverly knew she would have to clean up later.

 

“What time did you get back?” Waverly asked, Wynonna mixing the flour far too fast, it practically exploding all over the kitchen.

 

“Um, not long after we left.” Wynonna coughed through the cloud of flour. “What you are doing tonight?”

 

“I have cheer practice.” Waverly said, making a mental note to grab her kit before she left the house.

 

“Oh, when’s the game.”

 

“Friday.”

 

“You mean tomorrow?”

 

“Oh, yeah.” Waverly shook her head, it was too early, her brain clearly not functioning properly.

 

“I’ll come down and see it if I’m finished.”

 

“Finished with what?” Waverly questioned, Wynonna not replying, which was strange as Wynonna always had something to say. “Wynonna?”

 

“I have a job interview.”

 

“You have a what? Are you serious?” Waverly jumped off the counter, her mouth hanging open. Wynonna had never had a proper job, she had never even applied to one. The best she did was a paper round in high school before she dropped out.

 

“Yeah.” Wynonna wasn’t quite as excited as Waverly, her voice flat as she flipped a pancake, surprisingly catching it with the frying pan.

 

“What’s the job?” Waverly asked, grabbing two plates and putting them down next to Wynonna.

 

“Some office crap.” Wynonna mumbled, flipping the pancake before sliding it onto the plate. Waverly grabbed the plate and searched the cupboards for the syrup. “Hurry up, I’ll give you a lift to school.”

 

School. Waverly felt her stomach drop at the thought. Nicole. The thoughts flooded her for the first time this morning, hitting her like a tidal wave.

 

“Waverly?” Wynonna looked concerned Waverly having gone slightly pale. “Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Waverly said, not sure whether or not to be thankful for the fact she didn’t have Nicole’s class till the end of the day. Waverly wanted to see Nicole, of course she did, but she didn’t want to have _the_ conversation, because she knew what was going to be said. She was going to be told it was never going to happen, Nicole was going to push her away. And Waverly knew why, it was her job, she literally couldn’t. But that didn’t make it any easier.

 

“We can talk about this interview later yeah?” Waverly said, stuffing the pancake in her mouth.

 

“Yeah, sure thing.” Wynonna replied, grabbing her keys for the jeep off the counter.

 

Waverly spent the entire car journey trying to think of a way in which this was possible, in which her and Nicole could be something, and the more she thought about it the more it scared her.

 

“Waverly, get out.” Wynonna’s words pulled Waverly from her thoughts, looking out the window to see the school, not sure how long they’d been here.

 

“Oh, thanks for the lift.” Waverly said, getting out of the jeep.

 

“You sure you’re okay?” Wynonna asked, her eyebrows furrowed together.

 

“Yeah, I’m okay.” Waverly said as she shut the door and headed into school.

 

When she got to her locker a note fell out, just like in all those clique high school movies. Waverly bent down to pick it up, opening it, confused.

 

_Waverly, come to my classroom before homeroom._

There was no name attached to the note, but Waverly knew who it was, her heart racing.

 

“Waverly!” Chrissy called out from behind Waverly, causing the Earp to jump out of her skin, nearly hitting her head on her locker. “Woah, calm down, you alright?”

 

“Yeah, sorry, I’m fine.” Waverly laughed it off, crumpling the note in her hand and throwing it to the back of her locker. “What’s up?”

 

“Nothing, you coming to homeroom?” Chrissy asked, smiling as normal, but Waverly could tell that something was off, her smile not carrying to her eyes. Waverly felt bad, she hadn’t been spending much time with her best friend, she hadn’t been there for her.

 

“Um, yeah but I’ve got to go see Miss Haught about the assignment quickly.”

 

“Oh, okay.” Chrissy said, starting to walk to homeroom.

 

“Chrissy,” Waverly yelled after her, Chrissy turning on her heels. “Meet you in the common room at lunch, catch up?”

 

Chrissy’s smile lit up a little as she nodded.

 

“Okay, see you later.” Waverly said, grabbing her books for her first class then headed to Miss Haught’s classroom.

 

The hallways were crammed with students, grabbing books, wasting time before the bell rang. Waverly walked through them, everyone saying hi as she walked past, asking how she was. Maybe people felt sorry for her after Champ. Waverly shudder at the thought, she hadn’t thought about Champ since before Winter break. Whatever the reason was for everyone being over-friendly, Waverly ignored it, smiling back as she made her way through the crowd eventually reaching the classroom door.

 

She knocked, unsure of where she stood and if she should just walk in.

 

“Come in.” Nicole said from inside the room, her voice slightly higher than normal, her teacher voice.

 

Waverly opened the door and stepped inside the empty classroom, closing the door behind her.

 

“You wanted to see me?” Waverly held the edge of her skirt with her hands to keep them from quivering.

 

“Yes, I think we need to talk.” Nicole kept behind her desk, standing up straight, making her tower over Waverly.

 

“We do.” Waverly agreed, putting her books down on an empty table and walking over to Nicole’s desk, watching Nicole’s posture stiffen as she stepped towards her. Waverly couldn’t imagine what this must be doing to Nicole’ head, the internal conflict that must be happening. It was hard for Waverly, but Nicole was risking her job, her future.

 

“What happened yesterday was a… _mistake.”_

 

Nicole cast her eyes down.

 

Waverly stood still, silent.

 

Even though Waverly saw this coming a million miles away, it still hurt, more than she was expecting.

 

“A _mistake_?” Waverly choked out, her eyes filling with tears.

 

“Yes.” Nicole replied bluntly, trying he best to keep her emotions out of this. She couldn’t do this.

 

“I don’t believe you.” Waverly laughed, tears threatening to pour down her face as she spoke. “You can’t tell me this means nothing to you.”

 

Waverly could see Nicole visibly swallow, her eyes still looking down at the desk.

 

“Nicole.” Waverly’s voice was strong, sharp, Nicole looked up, tears pooling in her own eyes now. “Tell me that this,” Waverly gestured between them, “means _nothing_ to you.”

 

“It means nothing.” Nicole said, her lips trembling but her voice strong, “It was a mistake.”

 

Waverly felt her heart _shatter_ in her chest, the tears now streaming down her face.

 

“Good to know.” Waverly spat out, turning around and picking up her books. She heard Nicole move behind her, she had said something but Waverly wasn’t listening. She left the classroom as fast as she could, running down the hall to the girls bathroom, dropping her books and locking herself in the cubical. The bell for the first lesson rang out, but Waverly didn’t hear it.

 

Why did this hurt so much? She had only known Nicole for three or four months, and it’s not like she had an actual relationship with her. But it felt like her heart had been broken into a million pieces. It was a feeling she had never experienced before and every time she tried to calm herself she started crying again.

 

Waverly didn’t know how long she spent in the bathroom, time blurring with the tears staining her face. After the crying subsided, she opened the cubical and looked in the mirror, her eyes blood-shot and swollen. She splashed her face with water and took a deep breath before heading out into the empty hallway. But just as she stepped out, the bell went, the hallway flooding with students and Waverly put her head down.

 

“Waverly, Chrissy just went to the common room to look…are you okay?” One of the boys from the football team asked, his voice changing as he looked down at Waverly.

  
“I’m fine, thanks.” Waverly said, quickly heading to the common room and found Chrissy sat waiting for her.

 

“Hey, you ready to go-Waverly what the hell happened?” Chrissy asked, standing up and walking over to Waverly, taking her books off her and placing them on the table. “Waverly?”

 

Waverly opened her mouth to speak but a choked cry came out, Chrissy wrapping her up in her arms.

 

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me anything.” Chrissy whispered, soothing Waverly by running her fingers gently through her hair.

 

Eventually Waverly calmed down, her breathing regular, her hands shaking a little less. Her and Chrissy sat in the common room for the whole of lunch and throughout their study period. Waverly told Chrissy parts of the story, not wanting to damage Miss Haught’s reputation. It just made it easier this way, to bend the truth, to not tell the whole story. Waverly told Chrissy about Wynonna getting arrested every other week, how she was basically in love with her teacher and how it just got a little too much. Chrissy just listened, let Waverly get everything off her chest, reassuring her it was going to be okay.

 

“You never know though, maybe Haught has the Haught’s for you.” Chrissy joked, laughing almost hysterically at herself and Waverly raised her eyebrows.

 

“Not funny.” Waverly said, holding back a smile as Chrissy continued to laugh, Waverly trying not to laugh too. “Okay, fine, it’s a little funny.”

 

Chrissy stood up, holding her arms out and Waverly stood up too, Chrissy pulling her into a hug.

 

“Are you feeling a bit better?”

 

“Yeah, thank you for listening.”  


“Always, that’s what I’m here for.” Chrissy sighed, stepping back, holding Waverly’s shoulders. “You ready for class?”

 

_shit._

“No.” Waverly rolled her eyes, having forgotten she had to go to Miss Haught’s class. “I can’t go.”

 

“Hey, you have never missed a class, you came into class with a bucket once when you were vomiting.” Waverly laughed at the memory, she had spent hours convincing Gus to let her go. “You can’t let your perfect attendance slip because of one bitch.”

 

Waverly frowned at the word bitch. Nicole wasn’t a bitch.

 

“You’re coming.” Chrissy said, grabbing Waverly’s hand and dragging her to class.

 

Waverly spent the whole hour with her head down, doodling on a piece of blank paper, trying not to sniffle or cry and she was determined to not look at Nicole. The absolute last thing she wanted to do was start crying again. When the bell went, Waverly sighed, relieved. She had decided she was going to switch to a different class so that her attendance wouldn’t slip, because she couldn’t do this. Whatever this was.

 

Waverly stood up, pushing her chair under her desk, turning to leave when-

 

“Waverly, can I speak to you for a minute.”

 

Waverly opened her mouth to speak but Chrissy beat her to it; “We’ve got cheerleading practice now Miss.”

 

“It’ll only take a second.” Nicole replied and Chrissy shot Waverly a look but Waverly shook her head, mouthing ‘it’s fine’ as Chrissy left the room. Soon enough it was just Waverly and Nicole left in the room, Waverly still stood behind her desk. After a moment Nicole spoke up,

 

“Are you okay?” 

 

Waverly almost laughed.

 

“What are you doing?” Waverly said, ignoring Nicole’s question, looked up to see Nicole for the first time since she stepped into the classroom. Nicole’s eyes were red from where she had been rubbing them, she looked drained, her skin paler than normal. She looked defeated, and Waverly felt bad. This was her fault.  


“What?”

 

“What are you doing? If I mean nothing to you why the hell would you care if I’m okay?” Waverly was angry, her guilt disappearing in her words. She was quiet, not wanting Chrissy who was waiting outside to hear, but she needed to say it, Nicole needed to hear.

 

“Waves-”

 

“Don’t _Waves,_ me.” Waverly’s words were laced with a venom she didn’t know she had. “Not until you’re ready to admit that I mean something to you, that we are not nothing.”

 

Waverly no longer felt like crying, she was stood upright, her head held high. She knew Nicole felt something, if she hadn’t known before she could tell from the nearly broken woman stood before her.

 

Waverly left the classroom, not giving Nicole a chance to say anything. Giving she didn’t want to hear that their kiss was a mistake when she knew it wasn’t. She needed Nicole to think, to realise that nothing either of them do is going to stop the inevitable.

 

“Everything okay?” Chrissy asked, and Waverly put on a smile.

 

“Everything is just fine.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> p.s sorry for the angst (well kind of)
> 
> p.s.s I am sorry for the half cliffhanger,, but I love cliffhangers
> 
> x


	7. Chapter 7

 

_we only regret the chances we didn't take_

 

* * *

 

 

Nicole locked her classroom door, the hallways of the school quiet and dark, students having fled home hours ago. Nicole hadn’t meant to stay here this long, but finishing her marking had taken her a lot longer than she had expected. She was thankful that this day was almost over, everything had been a bit much, her concentration a mere myth thanks to Waverly. Well, Nicole couldn’t blame Waverly and she knew it, this was just as much her own fault as it was Waverly’s.

 

Nicole let the thought fade to the back of her mind, walking down the hallway towards the main exit when she stopped dead in her tracks, the sound of footsteps slamming towards her making her pause. No one should be here this late.

 

Seconds later a flash of brunette nearly crashed into Nicole, the girl stopping a few steps away from Nicole. She was dripping wet from head to toe, her hair sticking to her face, makeup dripping with the raindrops falling from her chin and her cheerleading uniform stuck to her small frame. But even then, she was unmistakeable.

 

Nicole had never really believed in fate or density, but the more time she spent in Purgatory, the more she started to question it.

 

“Waverly?” Nicole said slowly, the brunette casting her eyes upwards, Nicole seeing Waverly’s eyes swollen and red, tears mixing with the rain pouring down her face, and before Nicole could stop herself she pulled Waverly into her arms, stroking her hair as Waverly sobbed against her.

 

“What happened?” Nicole whispered once Waverly’s breathing had  calmed down, the choked breaths turning to deep ones, but Nicole’s questions didn’t get an answer, Waverly just shook her head gently and Nicole understood. “That’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it.”

 

Nicole looked down, leaning back slightly to look at Waverly, her fingers pushing a wet strand of hair out of Waverly’s face, earning a half smile from Waverly. It made Nicole’s stomach flutter.

 

“Do you need a lift home?” Nicole asked after a moment, her hand on Waverly’s cheek, forgetting where they were and what was happening, just for a moment. Waverly nodded and Nicole moved her arms to around Waverly’s waist, walking with her slowly to the back exit of the school.

 

* * *

 

The car journey back to the homestead was quiet, Waverly gazing out of the window, watching the rain roll down the passenger side window. Nicole drove slowly, her eyes darting between the road and Waverly, her hand itching to rest on Waverly’s knee, but she didn’t want to push it. Only hours ago, she had told Waverly that whatever they had between them meant nothing. Now she felt like she was in some sort of movie, the rain falling as Waverly’s tears silently fell from her eyes, Nicole glancing over every ten seconds, the radio humming nonsense in the background. It was every sad cliche in one.

 

When Nicole turned the engine off everything was still, silent. She wasn’t sure where she stood with Waverly, she didn’t know what to do or say.

 

“Do you want…” Nicole wasn’t sure what Waverly wanted. She was going to say walk her to the door, or stay here in the car, but when Waverly looked across at her Nicole, her eyes still red and glistening from tears, she changed her mind. “Do you want me to come in with you?”

 

Waverly waited for a moment before slowly nodding her head and Nicole let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Waverly opened her door first, sliding out of the seat and pushing the car door shut, Nicole stepping out of her side and quickly walking around to where Waverly was stood. She felt lost, not sure whether wrapping her arms around Waverly was the right thing to do, or to just follow her. But when Nicole saw Waverly shiver slightly, taking a small step towards the front door, Nicole walked behind her slightly, her hands slowly rubbing Waverly’s bare arms.

 

Waverly ducked away once at the door, looking under a plant pot for a door key.

 

“Is Wynonna not in?” Nicole asked, noticing the darkness of the house as Waverly opened the door. Waverly shook her head in response.

 

Nicole closed the door behind her, turning to see Waverly stood, facing away from her. Even from behind she looked broken, and Nicole could feel an ache in her own chest at the sight.

 

There was a slight puddle that followed Waverly and the few steps she had made into the house. Nicole noticed that Waverly was still shivering, her cheerleading uniform barely covering her.

 

“You must be freezing,” Nicole whispered more to herself than Waverly. She walked around Waverly who avoided eye contact, her eyes glued to the floorboards. “Do you want to, um, do you want me to run you a bath or…?” Nicole stumbled over her own words, trying desperately to be supporting and to not cross any lines or make Waverly feel worse or uncomfortable in any way. Waverly just shook her head, words failing her, and Nicole gently held Waverly’s wrist, making the brunette look up, water still dripping down her face. “You at least need to get changed out of this.” Nicole gestured to the uniform and Waverly nodded, her eyes falling to Nicole’s hand on her wrist before she moved her hand into Nicole’s, lacing their finger together and pulling the redhead upstairs behind her.

 

Once up the stairs, Waverly opened a cupboard, standing on her tiptoes and reaching for a towel, her other hand still holding Nicole’s. Nicole smiled slightly before pulling her hand from Waverly’s, holding back a laugh as the brunette frowned, but only for a second as Nicole pulled down the towel with ease, handing it to Waverly. A small smile of appreciation curled onto Waverly’s lips and Nicole’s heart nearly stopped.

 

Waverly walked into her room, Nicole absentmindedly following her, her thoughts on a different planet than her body. It wasn’t until Waverly started to pull her ‘blue devils’ top off that Nicole registered what was happening. She was going to turn around, leave the room, do anything but stand and stare. But she heard Waverly groan, sitting down on the bed and burying her face in her hands. The top was tight without the water making it stick to Waverly’s skin, and despite struggling, Waverly couldn’t get it off and she wasn’t in the right mentality to try again.

 

Nicole wasn’t sure if she was thinking or if her brain was just doing the thinking without her knowing, but before she knew it she was in front of Waverly, holding her hands out. Waverly took them without question and stood up, slowly, Nicole’s hands running from Waverly’s wrists to her shoulders, and then down, until they were at the hem of her shirt. Nicole could feel Waverly’s muscles jump below her touch as her fingers skimmed her stomach, pulling the shirt over the brunette’s head, leaving Waverly in her skirt and bra. Nicole looked down at Waverly who was looking back at her and everything just froze, only for a moment.

 

After a second, Nicole took a step back, without a word, turning and walking to the bathroom, twisting Waverly’s shirt over the skin to ring as much of the water out as she could. Lying the shirt over the edge of the bath, Nicole walked back to Waverly’s room to find Waverly curled up on top of her bed, wearing a simple grey top and shorts. Nicole ignored the feeling in her chest as she picked the skirt off the floor and flattened it out on the windowsill, turning back to Waverly. Even in this state, Waverly looked perfect to Nicole. Everything about her was just perfect.

 

Just as Nicole was about to walk away, Waverly spoke up; “Stay?”

 

Her voice was barely a whispered, but Nicole heard, her heart suddenly racing and her palms started sweating.

 

She couldn’t stay. There was a huge list of reasons why Nicole could not stay with Waverly, why she should walk away from her right now. But Waverly’s eyes were soft and her voice was hoarse and Nicole knew she wasn’t going anywhere.

 

“Are you-“

 

“Stay.” Waverly repeated, cutting Nicole off. As she spoke, Waverly moved over on her bed. She only had a twin bed, there was barely enough room for Waverly alone, but Nicole sat in the space Waverly had made, trying to keep her breathing steady and her thoughts platonic.

 

Waverly sighed and pushed Nicole back onto the bed so she was lying down, and Waverly curled into her side. Nicole couldn’t hear the rain, her heartbeat in her ears was the only sound in the room. But soon enough her body relaxed, her arms snaking around Waverly and her eyes heavy.

  

* * *

 

 

Waverly didn’t remember falling asleep. She remembered Nicole holding her, playing with her hair, her arms around her, but Waverly had thought that was nothing but a dream. It was a dream Waverly had had before. But when Waverly drifted out of sleep, Nicole’s arms were still around her, the redhead’s fingers splayed across her side. Waverly considered pinching herself as Nicole’s exhaled, the air brushing Waverly’s neck, making her shiver.

 

_She could get used to this._

 

Just as the thought crossed Waverly’s mind her alarm clock went off, Nicole jumping up next to her, nearly falling off the bed.

 

“Shit.” Nicole grumbled, her hands rubbing her eyes before suddenly stopping, her entire body stiffening as she realised where she was.

 

Waverly waited for the blow, for the _this means nothing_ to hit her like a bullet to the chest. But it didn’t.

 

“Hi.’ Nicole said with a smile, turning to face the brunette who smiled back.

 

“Hi.” Waverly whispered.  

 

She could definitely get used to  _this._

 

* * *

 

  

There was no awkwardness between them that morning. Nicole made breakfast as Waverly sat on the counter, legs swinging, heart racing. Waverly couldn’t help but notice how right this felt, how being with Nicole just felt natural and somewhat incredible. But Waverly knew Nicole holding her whilst she slept and making her breakfast with a smile on her face wasn’t reality, and soon enough reality came back and hit Waverly, _hard_.

 

“Do you want a lift to…”

 

“School?” Waverly finished after Nicole stopped.

 

“Yeah, school.”

 

That was the reality. Nicole was her teacher, at high school, and whatever was going on between them was never going to happen. It couldn’t happen. And they both knew that.

 

But it didn't make it hurt any less.

 

The car journey to school was quiet, but nothing like the car journey the day before. Nicole wasn’t glancing at Waverly, her eyes were glued to the road, her knuckles almost white from gripping the wheel. Waverly was tense, the atmosphere suffocating her.

 

She couldn’t do this.

 

The second Nicole stopped the car, Waverly got out the car, slamming the car door behind her as she walked away without looking back.

  
“Waverly!” Chrissy called, Waverly jumping slightly before stopping to turn to Chrissy. “Were you with Miss Haught?”

 

Waverly panicked, her heart started to hammer in her head and she felt the urge to vomit curling in her stomach.

 

“Yeah, she was hanging out with Wynonna last night and offered me a lift.” Apparently, Waverly’s head already had an excuse ready, not that she remembered planning an excuse, but the words just rolled off her tongue.

 

“Oh, that’s nice of her.” Chrissy said with a shrug, not questioning Waverly’s words, but then again, why would she? “You ready for the game tonight?”

 

“Can’t wait.” Waverly said, almost forgetting the day. She text Wynonna good luck for her job interview as she followed Chrissy to her locker, hoping that the day would go quickly so she could go home for the weekend. And thankfully the day did go quickly, every lesson seeming to end quicker than it begun, the game went smoothly, no one messing up during the routine like they had in practise. To Waverly’s surprise, it had been a good day, so when the football team won and Chrissy asked her if she was going to Shorty’s to celebrate, she didn’t say no.

 

* * *

 

 

Shorty’s was loud, everyone laughing and celebrating the football teams win. It wasn’t very often they did win, the team was small, like the town, so it was nice to see everyone’s’ spirt high, even if it would only last for the night.

 

Nicole was sat by the bar with a few other teachers. Waverly was trying her best not to stare, but it was harder than she had first thought. Nicole was in a red and black flannel, the sleeves rolled up. She was laughing, an ugly laugh, but to Waverly is was music to her ears.

 

“Waverlyyy Earp.” Champ’s voice startled Waverly, her eyes snapping to the boy who had stumbled over to her. “How have you been baby?”

 

“Champ, you’re drunk.” Waverly said, her voice uncertain, Champ being so close made her uncomfortable.

 

“No I’m not, barely tipsy baby.” Champ spoke too loudly, his arms wailing as he spoke. He had caught the attention of most people around him.

 

“Just back off Champ.” Waverly looked around, hoping for Chrissy to be near but the blonde was nowhere to be seen. Waverly hoped maybe Nicole had heard, or was looking at her, but she wasn’t.

 

“Oi, man-child, she told you to back off.” Waverly felt relief flood her system as Wynonna appeared behind Champ, her hands on his shoulders. “Off you go.” She said, giving him a gentle shove in the other direction.

 

“Thank you.” Waverly said, Wynonna sitting down opposite her.

 

“No problem baby-girl, anytime.” Wynonna replied, watching Champ stumble away.

 

“How did the job interview go?”

 

“Oh, yeah, fucked that up.” Wynonna said with a shrug of her shoulders. “But, I did get offered a job here.”

 

Waverly’s mouth hung open.

 

“I know,” Wynonna laughed, leaning over to push her sisters mouth closed. “I had to promise not to drink the alcohol while working, and I know that’ll be hard, but I think I can do it.” Wynonna said with a wink and Waverly laughed.

 

“Congrats Wynonna, that’s great.” Waverly smiled as her sister smiled back. Today really was a good day.

 

“So much to celebrate. This rounds on me!” Wynonna yelled as she stood up and everyone cheered.

 

Waverly’s eyes glanced across to Nicole who was looking back at her. Everything went quiet, just for a second, until Nicole looked away.

 

* * *

 

 

It didn’t take long for Wynonna to get so drunk she didn’t know her own last name. Waverly tried to hold her up but very quickly realised she wasn’t strong enough to hold a drunken Wynonna, and trying to get her sister to sit still was next to impossible. Waverly sighed to herself, thinking it was going to be a long walk home.

 

“Need a lift?” It was almost as if Nicole could read her mind, car keys dangling from her hands and a smile on her lips.

 

“Please.” Waverly said, Nicole putting her arms around Wynonna and helping Waverly get her out of the bar and into the back of Nicole’s car. It was quite a challenge, but they managed it.

 

“I love you Haught.” Wynonna said as she laid down on the back seat of the car.

 

 _You’re not the only one,_ Waverly thought to herself as she sat in the front seat, immediately pushing the thought to the back of her mind.

 

“Love you too Earp.” Nicole said, her voice laced in a sarcasm that drunk Wynonna couldn’t process. “She’s a fun drunk.” Nicole laughed as she climbed into the drivers seat, starting the engine and pulling off.

 

“She can be, depends how much she’s had to drink.” Waverly responded, not really thinking.

 

“What do you mean?” Nicole asked.

 

“She can be a mean drunk.”

  
“Really?” As Nicole spoke Wynonna piped up, singing a song that vaguely sounded like Let It Go from Frozen. “I’m not sure I believe that.”

 

Before Waverly could reply, Wynonna spoke up, “Haught-stuff.” Wynonna slurred her words as she tried to make a coherent sentence, “Thank you so much.”

 

“For what?” Nicole asked.

 

“You know.” Wynonna laughed to herself and Waverly looked across at Nicole who kept her eyes on the road.

 

The rest of the car ride was silent, Wynonna humming to herself in the back.

 

Once back at the homestead and Wynonna in bed, Waverly turned to Nicole.

 

“What was she saying thank you for?” Waverly asked and watched as Nicole’s cheeks burn up a little.

 

“Nothing.” Nicole took a step towards the door but Waverly stepped in front of her.

 

“It wasn’t nothing.” Waverly said, crossing her arms as Nicole continued to stand in silence. “You’re not leaving till you tell me.”

 

“Looks like I’m not leaving then.” Nicole retorted, throwing Waverly off.

 

They both stood in silence, trying to stare the other one down, both as stubborn as one another.

 

Waverly wasn’t sure at what point the atmosphere went from slightly jokey to intense, but it happened very quickly and soon enough her blood was racing through her veins and her hands were shaking. Nicole seemed to notice the change too, her eyes casting down to the floor, clearing her throat before speaking.

 

“Um, remember when Wynonna kind of went missing for a couple hours and I called you because she nearly beat up some guys?” Nicole spoke quietly, her voice trembling slightly.

 

“Yeah.” Waverly whispered back.

 

“Well, remember how I said someone stopped her or she would have been in some serious trouble?” Nicole still wasn’t looking at her and Waverly felt her stomach drop and a smile spread across her face.

 

‘Yeah.”

 

“I stopped her.” Nicole looked back up as she said that, greeted by Waverly’s trademark smile and sparkling eyes. “I took a punch to the ribs though, she is a lot stronger than she looks.” Nicole laughed and Waverly’s smile grew.

 

Nicole was perfect. She was selfless, she was kind, smart, funny, so beautiful. She was everything Waverly could have ever imagined and more.

 

“Anyway, I should probably get going now.” Nicole said, awkwardly shoving her hands in her pockets, Waverly still stood in her way.

 

“Thank you, Nicole.”

 

“It’s okay, it was nothing.” Nicole was looking at the floor again, her eyes darting, her body stiff.  


“Nicole.” Waverly’s tone made the redhead look up. “No one around here stands up for Wynonna, even people who have known her all her life. You’ve know her a couple of months and took a punch to stop her from making an awful mistake. I don’t think anyone else in Purgatory would have helped her.”

 

If Nicole’s cheeks weren’t red before, they were now. “It’s not that big of a deal, I was just doing what was right and-“ Nicole began to mumble, not sure how to respond to Waverly without admitting she did something amazing. And once again, Waverly cut Nicole off, but this time, it wasn't with her words.

 

Nicole inhaled sharply as Waverly’s lips connected with her own, her body relaxing and quickly melting into the kiss. Waverly’s fingers snaking into Nicole’s hair, her nails running over the redhead’s scalp, earning a moan from Nicole that nearly made Waverly’s legs give out.

 

Nicole bit down on Waverly bottom lip, soothing it out with her tongue seconds later, making a heat settle low in Waverly’s stomach and a groan rise in the back of her throat. Waverly didn't notice she was moving, Nicole's mouth distracting her, but soon enough her back was pressed up against the wall, Nicole's legs between her own and it took all of Waverly's strength not to grind down on Nicole's thigh. 

 

Nicole's lips trailed from Waverly's mouth to her jaw, down to her neck, sucking on her pulse point. Waverly threw her head back, it banging on the wall behind her. Nicole quickly pulled back, asking "Are you okay?" and Waverly couldn't help but laugh.  
  


"I'm better than okay." She said, moving her head forward to look at Nicole, her hazel eyes dark and full of lust, and maybe, what Waverly hoped was a little love too.

 

"Can you pleaseee be quiet out there, I am trying to sleep here!" Wynonna yelled from her bedroom, making Nicole jump back about ten feet, Waverly laughing at the redhead.

 

"Sorry Wynonna, goodnight." Waverly yelled back

 

"Night night." Wynonna shouted and the room fell to silence. Waverly knew her sister wouldn't remember that tomorrow morning.

 

"I think I should actually go now." Nicole said, her face flushed nearly and the same colour as her hair. 

 

"I think you should stay." Waverly said under her breath with a sigh, following Nicole to the door. Waverly hated the fact that she knew she was going to get hurt, that Nicole was just going to push her away and-

 

"We can talk about  _this_ tomorrow?" Nicole said, pulling Waverly out of her thoughts.

 

"Um, yes, definitely." Waverly smiled, watching Nicole walk back to her car.

 

Waverly closed the door with a thud, leaning back against it and taking a deep breath.

 

Waverly was a planner, she liked to plan things, and out of all the ways she had attempted to plan her senior year, _this_ had not made the list. 

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (sorry it is a little late but Christmas and family got in the way,, blame them not me)

_tomorrow could be the someday you’ve been waiting for_

 

* * *

 

 

_Tomorrow_. Waverly had spent all of last night thinking about _tomorrow_. The _tomorrow_ which was now today.

 

Waverly was terrified. She had barely slept, her mind in overdrive, running through every possible situation that _tomorrow,_ today could bring.

 

Nicole could break her. Snap her in half and leave her broken, shatter her with her words, and there was nothing Waverly could do about it. It made her stomach churn.

 

Waverly could understand though; the logical side of her knowing Nicole couldn’t do this. She could lose her job, it could ruin Nicole’s entire life. And whilst this logical side of Waverly was screaming to step away, to not fall for someone she can’t have, to not be so selfish for ten seconds, Waverly’s heart was not listening. She wanted, _needed_ this, and she wasn’t sure what she would do if Nicole told her to stop whatever they were.

 

We can talk about _this_ tomorrow. Nicole's words circled Waverly’s head as she stared at the contents of her wardrobe for what felt like forever before finally picking what to wear. She was overthinking everything, from what colour eyeshadow to put on to whether to wear a dress or a skirt. Everything felt like a life or death situation to Waverly, the clock ticking slowly in the back of her head, counting down to _tomorrow._ Well, today.

 

* * *

 

 

 Nicole knew she couldn’t do this, shouldn’t do this, but she also knew she couldn’t help herself. There was something about Waverly, something Nicole would never be able to put her finger on, but she was drawn to her and there was no stopping the inevitable. Nicole sighed at herself, wondering when her inner voice had started narrating some shitty chick-flick. Everything about this, about Waverly, her feelings, it didn’t feel real, it felt like something that she’d see at the movies.

 

The classroom was quiet, no sound echoing from the halls, no students screaming and shouting, no one running to get to class before the bell went and a detention slip was handed out. It was still, silent, half the students were probably still asleep. There was an hour until the first bell went, but Nicole had already been here for at least half an hour. She told herself it was because she had marking to do which she left on her desk, but Nicole knew the reality. _Tomorrow_ , today, she had said she would talk to Waverly about them. She hadn’t said where or when, but she was hoping Waverly wanted to talk as badly as she did, hoping Waverly would come in early and talk to her. It was a long shot and required getting up an hour earlier, but just the chance of Waverly walking through her classroom door was worth it.

 

Every sound around Nicole caused the redhead’s heart to skip a beat and her body jump in its seat, and when someone knocked on the classroom door, Nicole forgot how to breathe.

 

“Come in.” Nicole said in her best teacher voice, trying not to let it crack (and failing), her eyes glued to her marking, almost scared to look up.

 

“Hi.” Waverly’s voice was quiet, shy almost, and it made Nicole’s heart melt.

 

“Hi.” Nicole echoed, a smile spreading on her face as Waverly stood awkwardly swaying in front of her. “Do you want to sit down?” Nicole asked and Waverly nodded, Nicole quickly standing up and dragging a chair to the side of her desk, not too close but not too far away.

 

“Thanks.” Waverly mumbled as she sat down, playing with her hair and avoiding eye-contact for as long as she could. _How fucking cute,_ Nicole thought to herself, gently wrapping her fingers around Waverly’s wrist, the brunette’s eyes snapping to Nicole who just smiled, pulling Waverly’s hand away from her face.

 

“Sorry, you were playing with your hair and…yeah.” Nicole didn’t have a reason to do what she did, but Waverly didn’t seem to mind.

 

“So,” Waverly cleared her throat, shifting in her chair, “You wanted to talk?”

 

“I did.” Nicole replied, suddenly realising she should have planned what she was going to say before this point. Nicole knew what she wanted, but she had no idea how to say it without making this incredibly awkward. Nicole’s classroom probably wasn’t the best idea to have this conversation, everything around them reminding them why what they were about to do was a bad idea. But when Nicole looked into Waverly’s eyes, her surroundings disappeared and everything seemed to fall into place.

 

“I was just wondering if, you maybe, sometime, wanted to go on a date…with me?” Nicole asked, feeling like she was in high school again, nerves over taking her body.

 

Waverly’s mouth dropped open, literally. Nicole wasn’t sure how to take it, and the longer the silence grew with Waverly staring at her, the more Nicole’s cheeks flushed.

 

“Um, wow that was a bit forward, sorry I just, I mean we kissed, twice, and I like you and I know the situation is a little shit and probably a little illegal maybe but I had to ask and I didn’t mean it to-“

 

“Yes.” Waverly said with an exhale, cutting Nicole’s rambling off.

 

“Yes?” Nicole echoed, making sure she had heard Waverly right, and as the brunette nodded back at her Nicole felt her nerves settle.  “I’ll pick you up at eight?”

 

“Okay.” Waverly replied softly, smiling, her eyes sparkling.

 

The bell went and Waverly stood up, a huge smile still stitched across her face, and said “see you at eight.” before leaving the classroom.

 

* * *

 

 

Waverly watched the clock all day, every second seeming like an hour, every movement the hands made was a moment closer to her date with Nicole.

 

“Waverly?” Chrissy’s voice snapped Waverly out of her daydream, her hand waving in front of Waverly’s face.

 

“What?” Waverly asked, everyone around the lunch table staring at her.

 

“You coming to Jack’s party tonight?” Chrissy asked again and Waverly opened her mouth to say yes before stopping.

 

“Umm, I can’t.” Waverly said causally with a shrug of her shoulders, earning a puzzled expression from Chrissy.

 

“Why?” Chrissy asked after a second.

 

“I have plans.” Waverly said, her eyes drifting back to the clock. _In seven hours and thirty-two minutes._

 

“With?” Chrissy fired back, her voice sharp.

 

“Wynonna.” Waverly lied, it wasn’t as though she could announce at lunch that she was going on a date with a teacher.

 

“How come you didn’t mention it?”

 

“Jesus, is this an interrogation?” Waverly snapped, the surrounding tables turning to look, falling quiet. Chrissy smiled a little. She knew Waverly, she knew Waverly didn’t snap unless she was lying.

 

“Nope, sorry.” Chrissy said, picking up her burger and taking another bite, the noise level picking back up around them.

 

“Have any of you guys taken that history test yet?” Danny asked and Waverly zoned back out.

 

_Seven hours and thirty minutes._

One thing Waverly had learned today at school is that staring at clocks seems to make time stop.

* * *

 

“Hey Waverly can you- whoa, what the, did a hurricane pass through here?” Wynonna said as she walked into Waverly’s room, every item of clothing Waverly owned was scattered across the room, Waverly stood in the middle of it in her sweats.

 

“Not funny Wynonna, I’m having a crisis here!” Waverly sighed, picking up another dress and holding it against herself, looking in the mirror and dropping it to the floor again.

 

“What’s the crisis?” Wynonna asked, stepping over a mini mountain of clothes and sitting down on Waverly’s bed.

 

“I don’t know what to wear.” Waverly said, looking at her watch. _Two hours and three minutes._

 

“Wear for what?” Wynonna asked, grabbing a shirt off the floor.

 

_Oh shit,_ Waverly internally cursed.

 

“A date.” Waverly barely whispered it, swiftly turning around to grab a skirt of the floor, hoping Wynonna wouldn’t ask again. But of course, she did.

 

“A what now?”

 

“A date.” Waverly repeated, a little louder, her eyes scanning the floor and avoiding Wynonna.

 

“A _date_?” Wynonna hummed, her smile wide. “A date with who.”

 

“No one.” Waverly said, wondering what would happen if she told Wynonna.

 

“A date with no one sounds boring.” Wynonna laughed to herself before getting off the bed. “No one isn’t Champ, is it?”

 

“God no.” Waverly said quickly, looking up at Wynonna who was going through her clothes.

 

“Okay good.” Wynonna replied, lifting a black low-cut top off the floor and smiling. “You should definitely wear this.”

 

* * *

 

Waverly looked over herself in the mirror. The black top which Wynonna had picked fit her well, it was tight and slightly cropped. Wynonna had refused to let her wear anything else, _you’ve got the figure kiddo, so flaunt it._ Waverly eventually picked a pair of light blue skinny jeans and her black boots to go with her top.

 

‘Hair up or hair down?” Waverly yelled out of the bathroom.

 

“Down.” Wynonna yelled back.

 

_Eleven minutes._

Waverly took a deep breath in hopes of it settling her stomach. It didn’t work.

 

“You ready yet, I need to shower Waverly!” Wynonna yelled.

 

_Ten minutes._

“Yeah I’m done.” Waverly said as she stepped out of the bathroom.

 

“Thank god.” Wynonna said, jumping off the floor, looking over Waverly. “You look amazing baby-girl. Have fun tonight, and be safe.”

 

“I will be, and thanks.’ Waverly responded as Wynonna walked past her and into the bathroom. Even though Wynonna never really said I love you aloud to Waverly, it was moments like that when Waverly was reminded she did love her.

 

_Nine minutes._

Waverly walked down the stairs, grabbing her coat off the hooks as she did so. She had no idea where Nicole was going to take her or what they were going to do.

 

Out of nowhere Waverly’s stomach clenched. What if it was awkward? What if it went wrong or Nicole decided this was a mistake? What if Nicole didn’t show up?

 

Waverly’s phone buzzed in her pocket.

 

_I’m outside._

_Nicole x_

 

Waverly read the message at least ten times to make sure she wasn't seeing things before shakily heading outside where Nicole was parked. 

 

"Hey." Nicole said with a smile. She was leaning against her car, her arms crossed across her chest. 

 

"How did you get my number?" Waverly asked, walking over to Nicole.

 

"I have my ways." Nicole said with a smile that made Waverly's heart flutter. "You ready?" Nicole opened the passenger side door for Waverly.

 

"Where are we going?" Waverly asked as she sat in the passenger seat.

 

"You'll find out." Nicole said with a wink as she closed the passenger door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope y'all enjoyed it,, and I really need to stop with the little cliffhangers don't i?
> 
> x


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it's been a while, I'm drowning in school stuff, but instead of doing that I wrote this #priorities 
> 
> anyway, enjoy!
> 
> x

 

_you're someone I never expected to fall for_

 

* * *

 

 

Waverly had no idea where they were going, the dark roads not giving the brunette any signs of their destination, and neither was the redhead sitting next to her.

 

“Can I have a clue?” Waverly whined, turning in her seat to look at Nicole who glanced over at her before looking back at the road.

 

“We’re almost there Waves, just a few more minutes okay?” As Nicole spoke she moved one of her hands from the steering wheel to Waverly thigh and Waverly tried her best not to jump under her touch. She nodded in response, not trusting her voice at this precise moment.

 

After a minute or so Nicole had to move her hand back to the wheel, Waverly frowning at the loss of touch, but her frown soon disappeared when she saw where they were.

 

“Is this okay?” Nicole asked as she parked the car, looking across at Waverly, who just smiled at Nicole, her eyes sparkling.

 

“It’s perfect Nicole.” Waverly said, trying her best not to tear up as she looked over to the ice cream parlour.

 

“Wasn’t sure if you had associated here with a bad memory or something.” Nicole said with a shrug of her shoulders. Waverly would never understand how just a shrug of her shoulders and a smile from Nicole made her heart melt.

 

“No I associated it with…” Waverly stopped herself, not sure if saying she had associated here with her feelings for Nicole was a good idea. The last thing Waverly wanted to do was scare Nicole off before their date had even begun.

 

“With?” Nicole asked with a smugness in her voice, knowing exactly what Waverly was about to say.

 

“Nothing.” Waverly said sweetly and Nicole laughed to herself, getting out of the car. When Nicole closed her car door, Waverly took a deep breath, trying to ground herself. This didn’t feel real. Before Waverly had the time to fully exhale, Nicole opened the passenger side door for Waverly, who stepped out.

 

“Waves, you don’t have to hold things back you know?” Nicole said as they walked to the doors of the ice cream parlour.

 

“What do you mean?” Waverly asked, looking over at Nicole who looked perfect, the wind blowing her hair back slightly, her perfect smile sparkling in the moonlight and Waverly wanted to pinch herself in this moment. There was no way _this_ was real.

 

“I mean you can say whatever is on your mind, whatever you want, anything, I’m not going to judge you or be scared by what you say, okay?” Nicole said, stopping Waverly from walking by gently holding her wrist, puling the brunette in front of her. They're bodies was so close that Waverly could feel Nicole's body heat and all she wanted to do was close the distance between them.

 

But she didn't.

 

“Okay.” Waverly whispered back, convinced Nicole could read her mind.

 

Just as they were about to continue walking, Nicole looked down at her hand, still loosely around Waverly’s wrist and for a second Waverly thought Nicole was going to hold her hand, but she put it back inside her pocket. Waverly knew it wasn't because Nicole didn't want to, but rather the fact that they were a student and teacher, and they weren't too far out from Purgatory. Or maybe Nicole thought Waverly wouldn't want to be seen holding her hand. And suddenly Waverly didn't care who saw, lacing her fingers with Nicole who looked surprised for a second but the redhead couldn't fight off her smile.

 

Once inside and having ordered their sundaes, Nicole leant back, a small grin on her face. The lighting above their booth was bright, highlighting all the flaws Nicole didn’t have and Waverly felt her body relax into her seat, her nerves leaving her body as the redhead’s smile flooded her system.

 

“So, tell me something.” Nicole said, leaning forward on her seat, resting her elbows on the table.

 

“Like what?” Waverly asked, her body reflecting Nicole’s and leaning forward.

 

“Anything, something I don’t know, something no one knows.” _Something no one knows_ Waverly laughed to herself. No one knew about _this_ , about her and Nicole. But there wasn’t much else, Waverly wasn’t one for secrets, she never had been, that was more of her sister’s thing.

 

“Everyone knows everything about me, I’m an open book.” Waverly answered, her voice calm, her smile wide. She was an open book and if you asked her she would tell you, but if you didn’t ask she wouldn’t tell.

 

“Really?” Nicole said, her hand dropping down, resting on the table next to Waverly’s. “Good to know.” Waverly’s eyes drifted from Nicole’s hand back to her face, her heart rate picking up a little.

 

“You tell me something.” Waverly said, finding a confidence in her voice she didn’t know she had.

 

“You’re beautiful.” Nicole replied without a second between her words and Waverly’s.

 

“Smooth.” Waverly laughed, conscious of Nicole’s fingers now tracing hers. She could feel herself blushing but she didn’t care. She felt comfortable, safe, and even though going on a date with a teacher sounded like one of the most awkward situations on the face of the planet, Waverly did not feel awkward at all. She felt like she could be completely herself and there was no judgement.

 

The waitress came over and placed their sundaes down on the table, Nicole pulled her hand back, Waverly missing Nicole’s touch instantly.

 

“So, just so I know, have you ever been with another woman before?” Nicole asked once the waitress left them. Waverly felt her stomach twist slightly when Nicole asked.

 

“Umm, no not exactly.” Waverly said, playing with her spoon, pushing the ice cream around with it so she didn’t have to look at Nicole. But Nicole rested her hand on Waverly’s hand again and Waverly looked up to see Nicole still smiling at her.

 

“Not exactly?” Nicole tilted her head to the side as she spoke and it made Waverly’s heart flutter.

 

“I apparently kissed a girl when I was very drunk once, but I don’t remember it.” Waverly said, earning a look of false horror from Nicole who leant back in her seat.

 

“You can’t have been drunk, you’re not twenty-one!” Nicole put her hand over her mouth and leaned over the table towards Waverly, making Waverly’s heart pond in her chest and all background noises faded as Nicole whispered, “Don’t tell me you’ve been breaking the law Waverly Earp.”

 

“Shut up.” Waverly managed to laugh without her voice cracking, Nicole's words going straight to her core and Waverly felt her cheeks flushing hard. Waverly held her breath in whilst Nicole was close, but as Nicole leant back, laughing to herself, Waverly caught her breath.

 

“Sorry for asking, I was just wondering because I heard about you and…” Nicole stopped, realising that now was definitely not the best time to bring up Waverly’s ex. Because from what Nicole had heard, that really did not end well.

 

“Champ.” Waverly said, finishing Nicole’s sentence.

 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought that up.” Nicole apologised, casting her eyes down to her table and pulling her hand back into her lap.

 

“It’s okay.” Waverly said back, brushing the thoughts of Champ out of her head and bringing the topic back, “I’m guessing you’ve been with a woman before.”

 

“A few, yes.” Nicole replied, looking back up at Waverly who was still smiling and Nicole let go of a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Waverly wasn’t surprised by Nicole’s answer, she had been expecting it, but it still made her fist clench slightly at the thought of Nicole with _a few_ other women. Waverly couldn’t understand how she was jealous of people she’d never met before, jealous of them being with someone whom she wasn’t even sure if she was with.

 

“Waverly, you okay?” Nicole asked, Waverly having to bring her attention back to the table, her eyes clearly having clouded over as she got lost in her own thoughts.

 

“Yeah, I’m good.” Waverly said, a small smile accompanying her words but Nicole wasn’t convinced.

 

“I know this is new to you, and the situation is a little difficult within itself.” Nicole said with a grin that Waverly reflected, their situation was beyond _a little difficult._ “But we don’t have to do or be anything you don’t want. I don’t want to push you to do anything you aren’t comfortable with and if you’re not comfortable with the situation then we don’t have to see each other again outside of school, whatever you want is fine with me.” Nicole let the words fall out her mouth as if they’d been practised a thousand times, and Waverly knew Nicole meant every word she said.

 

“I want to see you again.” Waverly said quietly, the words leaving her mouth before she had even planned on saying them. She wasn’t sure if she should have said that so soon into their first date, but the smile on Nicole’s face said it all.

 

“You do?” Nicole sounded like she almost didn’t believe Waverly’s words and it made Waverly’s chest feel warm, a feeling she could never put into words.

 

“Of course I do.”

  

* * *

 

 

The drive back to the homestead was quiet, Nicole focusing on driving and Waverly was trying to process what had just happened and that it wasn’t a dream.

 

“I’ll drop you off here if that’s okay? I don’t particularly want to bump into Wynonna right now…” Nicole said, looking at the steering wheel and Waverly made a decision that made her hands shake. She placed one hand on Nicole’s thigh, making the redhead turn her head to face Waverly, and before she could think about it and change her mind, Waverly leaned in towards Nicole, pressing her lips against the older woman’s. Waverly felt Nicole instantly relax into the kiss, her lips parting slightly against Waverly’s, their mouths moving against each other as if that is what they were made to do. Nicole’s fingers traced Waverly’s jaw as they kissed and Waverly wanted to be closer to Nicole, so without breaking their kiss, Waverly shifted her body so she could tangle her hands into Nicole’s hair and slide into Nicole's lap . Nicole gently pulled back Waverly’s bottom lip with her teeth, quickly soothing it with her tongue after, earning a moan from the brunette.

 

Everything was smooth, perfect, straight out of a movie, until Nicole pushed Waverly back against the steering wheel and sounded the horn, making both Nicole and Waverly jump, bashing their heads together.

 

A few moments of silence passed, Waverly still sat on Nicole’s lap, both women holding their hands over their heads where they had collided, and when Nicole looked up at Waverly, she was smiling, a smile that could have stopped Nicole’s heart.

 

“Sorry about that.” Nicole said and Waverly laughed, Nicole joining in. They sat and laughed for what could have been seconds or hours, however long it was, it ended sooner than either woman would have liked.

 

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.” Waverly said, still laughing as she slipped off Nicole’s lap and back onto the passenger seat. “I’ll see you later.” Waverly said, quickly kissing Nicole once more before getting out the car and walking down the road back to the homestead, a smile on her face and Nicole on her mind.

 

* * *

 

“How was your date?” Wynonna yelled from the kitchen as Waverly shut the front door.

 

“It was good.” Waverly yelled back, hearing Wynonna’s footsteps leave the kitchen and come out to the hall way.

 

“Good? Is that all I get?” Wynonna said with a frown and puppy dog eyes, trying to get details out of Waverly. But Waverly didn't break.

 

“Goodnight Wynonna.” Waverly laughed as she walked past her sister and upstairs to her room, Wynonna mumbling something that Waverly couldn’t quite make out as she went upstairs. Waverly wasn’t sure if she could talk about her date with Wynonna, or anyone for that matter, in case she accidently let Nicole’s name slip out of her mouth. It was a lot easier to stay quiet than never mention the person she went on a date with while talking about the date.

 

Once upstairs, Waverly dropped onto her bed, pulling out her phone and adding Nicole as one of her contacts, putting a love heart next to her name. She knew she would have to change it at some point because there wasn’t another Nicole in Purgatory, and whilst Waverly could use Wynonna as an excuse to have Nicole’s number in her phone, she would not be able to explain the love heart next to it. But for now, it was cute, so Waverly left it.

 

Waverly spent an eternity thinking about what to text Nicole, typing and deleting a thousand messages before finally sending one.

 

Waverly: _Tonight was really great, can’t wait to do it again some time? x_

The brunette locked her phone and put it on her bedside table, questioning whether she should have put the kiss at the end of the message. She also knew she was far too excited for Nicole to respond and the reality was Nicole might not check her phone until the morning. But a few seconds later Waverly’s phone lit up, the vibrations making a buzzing sound and Waverly grabbed her phone only to see a message from Chrissy on her screen and her heart sunk a little.

 

Chrissy: _you wanna come out shopping tomorrow?_

Waverly sighed before typing out her response: _sure, let me know what time tomorrow._

Waverly didn’t particularly want to go out, she had planned on spending her weekend catching up with her school work that she was slightly behind on, but she could do that Sunday. It wasn’t the end of the world, and Waverly knew she had been hanging out with Chrissy less recently and she felt bad, so maybe shopping wasn’t the worst idea.

 

Just as Waverly was about to put her phone down, it buzzed again, but this time Waverly’s heart skipped a beat as Nicole’s name flashed on her screen.

 

Nicole: _It really was great, and definitely, can’t wait x_

Waverly read the message at leat ten times before she turned off her phone and rolled over in her bed, her eyes falling closed and her mind still on Nicole.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I please have an award for not writing a cliff hanger because that is impressive for me!!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully the next update will be a hell of a lot sooner than this one <3
> 
> x


	10. Chapter 10

 

 read me like a book and see my secrets

* * *

 

Waverly sat at the lunch table, her eyes scanning the cafeteria, not listening to the conversation being had by her friends. Her mind jumping back and forth from Nicole to the people walking around the room. So much had happened in the last few weeks of her life, and it was catching up to Waverly, her concentrations levels dropping by the second.

 

“Waverly?” Chrissy snapped her fingers in front of Waverly’s face, making the brunette jump a little. “Were you listening?”

 

“Sorry, no, what did you say?” Waverly turned her head back to Chrissy who was practically sat on Jack, her newest boyfriend. Waverly would never say it aloud because she knew it would only hurt her friend, but Chrissy could do so much better than one of the football guys with brown dull eyes, which were still brighter than his future.

 

“I said, Jack thinks that you should go with Sam to homecoming.” Chrissy was smiling too wide, getting over excited by the prospect of Waverly going to the dance with someone, or maybe she just smiled like this whenever Jack said something.

 

“Um, I’ll think about it.” Waverly laughed to hid the thoughts now racing through her head. She hadn’t even begun to think about the dance yet, it was still a few weeks until spring break, but Waverly knew she did not want to go with anyone other than Nicole, which she couldn't do, for obvious reasons.

 

“You two would be cute together.” Jack chipped in, earning a wider grin from Chrissy. The rest of the table hummed in agreement and Waverly just smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

 

“I’ll think about it.” Waverly repeated, and the conversation changed. Waverly knew she wasn’t going to go with him, she had a… Waverly stopped herself before the word _girlfriend_ rolled through her mind. Was Nicole her girlfriend? Waverly stored that thought in the back of her mind as a conversation to have later with Nicole as everyone stood up and the bell went for class.

 

* * *

 

Nicole couldn’t help glancing across at Waverly at every chance she got. She was concentrating so hard on her assignment, her tongue between her teeth, her hair tied back in a messy bun to keep it out of her face and-

 

“Miss Haught?” An impatient voice cut Nicole’s thoughts short. Nicole turned her attention to the boy on the front row, his name was Jack, maybe James. Nicole was never good with names, well, boys’ names.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Can I go to the bathroom please.” The boy seemed aggravated, Nicole wondered how many times he had tried to get her attention before she had noticed.

 

“Of course.” Nicole replied, the few students who had looked up dropped their heads back down to look at their desks, and soon enough Nicole’s eyes drifted back over to Waverly.

 

When the bell went, most of the students grabbed their books are darted for the door as quick as possible, but Nicole smiled as she watched Waverly slowly shut her books and pretend to pack away her things. Nicole looked at her desk and pretended not to notice as everyone left the classroom.

 

Nicole overheard Chrissy asking Waverly to hurry up, and Waverly saying she needed to ask for help. It took a lot for Nicole not to laugh at that, Waverly was far too smart too need help on an assignment this easy, but Chrissy just nodded and left. Then her and Waverly were the only two in the room.

 

Waverly walked over to Nicole’s desk, dropping her bag on the floor next to it before hopping onto the desk.

 

“Hi.” The brunette said quietly.

 

“Hi.” Nicole replied, a small blush creeping onto her cheeks due to the proximity of her and Waverly and the length of Waverly’s skirt, which was now sliding up her thigh.

 

“So, can I ask something without it sounding weird or anything?”

 

“Always.” Nicole said without a second in between.

 

Waverly didn’t speak, instead she slipped of the desk and walked over to the classroom door and pushed it shut before heading back over to Nicole, siting on the desk once again.

 

“Are we…” Waverly stopped for a moment, her eyes darting away from Nicole’s direction. “Are we like, dating or…” Waverly didn’t say anymore, she just kept looking around the class until Nicole placed her hand gently on the brunette knee, causing Waverly’s eyes to snap to where Nicole’s hand was.

 

“Are you trying to ask if we’re girlfriends?” Nicole spoke with a lowered volume, knowing that most students would have gone home the second they were let out of class, but she still had to be careful.

 

“Maybe.” Waverly whispered, and now she was the one blushing which made Nicole’s heart race in her chest. Every time Nicole thought Waverly couldn’t get any sweeter, she does.

 

“Do you want to be my girlfriend?” Nicole asked slowly, tracing small meaningless patterns on Waverly’s knee as she spoke, causing Waverly to shiver slightly, and whilst it was barely noticeable. Nicole noticed.

 

“Maybe.” Waverly repeated, a huge smile appearing on her face.

 

“What do you mean maybe?” Nicole laughed, standing up from her chair so she could see Waverly properly, the little smile curling on Waverly's lips made Nicole's chest ache with something, an emotion she knew would one day turn into love.

 

“Of course, I want to be your girlfriend.” Waverly said softly, looking down again.

 

“So, girlfriends?”

 

“Girlfriends.”

 

* * *

  

Waverly didn’t notice how late it was until Nicole dropped her off at the homestead and she had to use her phone torch to make it to the door and find her keys.

 

“Waverly, is that you?” Wynonna yelled as Waverly closed the door.

 

“Yes.” Waverly yelled back, heading towards the kitchen where Wynonna was sat on the counter, a tub of peanut butter in her hands.

 

“Thank God, I am starving.”

 

“You could learn to cook you know?” Waverly said as she opened the fridge, seeing what she could cook for dinner. "It's not difficult."

 

“I know, but then you wouldn’t have to cook and I know how much you love it.” Wynonna hummed as she dipped her fingers into the tub of peanut butter and then proceeded to lick them clean.

 

“You disgust me.” Waverly shook her head at her sister, trying not to laugh as Wynonna got peanut butter all over her face.

 

“Whatever.” Wynonna said through the sticky mess. “How come you were back so late?”

 

“Oh, um” Waverly froze for a second, her heart skipping a beat, “I was just hanging out with Chrissy.”

 

Wynonna didn't notice the pause in Waverly's voice, smiling as she said, “Well, next time hang out with Chrissy here so that you can cook for me and hang out with your friends.” Wynonna said as she hopped off the counter and walked to the sitting room.

 

“Noted.” Waverly said as she let out a shaky exhale. She wondered how Wynonna would react if she knew that Nicole was her girlfriend. Wynonna had always threatened to kill Champ, but Waverly was never sure if it was because it was _Champ,_ or if it was because he was dating her. But Waverly had a gut feeling Wynonna would not be happy about her seemingly closest friend dating her little sister, especially when that friend happened to be Waverly’s teacher.

 

Waverly pulled out some fresh pasta from the fridge and pushed her thoughts aside, she didn’t have to worry about that. Not yet anyway.

 

* * *

 

Waverly woke abruptly to her phone ringing, making a mental note to change her ringtone to something less harsh as she answered the call. She couldn’t see who it was on her screen, her eyes were half shut with sleep and her phone was just a blur of light, but the voice on the other end of the line was clear as daylight.

 

"Good morning."

 

“Chrissy? What the hell?”

 

“I’m at your front door, can you come let me in please.”

 

“What time is it?” Waverly grumbled as she sat up in bed.

  
  
“Time you came and opened the door.” Chrissy said cheerfully and Waverly hung up, swinging herself off her bed and dragging herself downstairs to let her best friend in.

 

“Morning sunshine.” Chrissy said far too loud for this time in the morning, the sound echoing through Waverly’s head.

 

“What-“ Waverly started, but Chrissy cut her off.

 

“When you cancelled on me last week to go shopping, we reorganised it for today.” Chrissy explained as she directed Waverly back up the stairs.

 

“I didn’t mean you could come round at three in the morning to get me to go shopping.” Waverly said as she went back into her room, dropping onto her bed.

 

‘It’s nearly nine and the shops open at ten.”

 

“She’s right Waverly, you should get up. Wynonna’s voice startled both girls, the older Earp leaning against the door frame in a tank top and shorts.

 

“Sorry, did I wake you?” Chrissy asked, her voice quieter now. Waverly knew Chrissy was a little scared of Wynonna. But most people in Purgatory were, so it didn’t bother Waverly.

 

“No, I was already up.” Wynonna said through a yawn. “But I’m glad you’re here Chrissy, I have a bone to pick with you.”

 

Waverly almost laughed as Chrissy visibly gulped.

 

“You need to stop keeping Waverly so late after school. I was starving last night as she wasn’t home till late cause she was hanging out with you!” Wynonna wasn’t serious, her tone demonstrating that, but suddenly Waverly wasn’t laughing anymore.

 

“What? I wasn’t with-“ Chrissy began turning to look over at Waverly, who was doing her best _please lie for me_ face without making it too obvious. Thankfully Chrissy had known Waverly long enough and she was able to read her like a book. “I wasn’t planning on keeping her that long, I would have sent her home earlier if I had known you were starving.”

 

Wynonna laughed, both Chrissy and Waverly joined in.

 

“Anyway, have fun shopping, and don’t be back too late baby-girl.”

 

“I won’t be.” Waverly replied with a smile, ignoring Chrissy’s eyes burning into her skull as she watched Wynonna walk away.

 

A few moments of silence passed before Waverly had to look over at her best friend.

 

“Thank you.” Waverly whispered.

 

“You owe me an explanation of where the hell you were last night.” Chrissy said, her eyebrows raised and her arms crossing across her chest.

 

 _Shit._ Waverly had no idea how she was going to lie her way out of this, Chrissy knew when she was lying.

 

“It’s a long story...”

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so its been 146 days since I last updated this fic,, so sorry about that, but I stg I'm back for good this time and I WILL update this EVERY Sunday until it is done. Also will be updating my other fic (dance like nobody is watching) every Friday from now as well. 
> 
> so, after you've probably had to reread half this fic to remember what the hell is going on, or if you're new and didn't have to wait forever for an update, please enjoy this chapter of you are my secret

_everything is fine_

 

* * *

 

 

“What the hell do you mean, _it’s a long story?”_ Chrissy hissed at Waverly as they walked out of the homestead, Waverly chewing on her bottom lip as she scanned her brain for possible excuses. There was no way Chrissy was going to take this well, no matter what she said, the two of them had been best friends for as long as Waverly could remember, and she had never lied or kept anything from her until now.

 

“I mean…” Waverly began, very quickly realising that she had no idea how to tell Chrissy, and before Waverly had the time to figure out how to phrase the fact she was dating their teacher, Chrissy started talking again.

 

“We are _best_ friends, we tell each other everything Waverly! I know it’s not the fourth grade anymore, and yeah you don’t have to tell me every single thing that happens to you, but we don’t keep secrets from each other, do we?”

 

_Secrets._ Waverly never kept secrets. Secrets ate people from the inside out, butNicole had become her secret. The only people that knew about the two of them was Nicole and herself, what they had was hidden from the rest of the world, and a part of Waverly liked that. But she knew that it wasn’t because they wanted it to be secret, but the very nature of their relationship had to be secret, and Waverly couldn’t tell Chrissy.

 

“Chrissy, I can’t-“ Waverly tried to explain, but the blonde was not having any of it.

 

“No, you can, you’re just choosing not to. You’ve been different lately, distant, everyone’s noticed. I keep trying to defend you, saying that you’re just stressed with college applications being sent soon, or that you’ve got a project due next week, but I didn’t think you were hiding shit from me, out of all people. I have _always_ been there for you.” Chrissy and Waverly had stopped walking, Waverly’s head had dropped and she looked at the gravel below her feet as guilt wrapped around her. Chrissy was right. What made it worse was that she sounded genuinely hurt, and Waverly knew if this was the other way would she’d be hurt too.

 

Waverly took a deep breathe before she spoke.

 

“You’ve got to promise you won’t hate me when I tell you.” Waverly said, her voice cracking slightly as the fear seeped into her words. She had a fear of rejection, she always had. She had spent her childhood with the whole of Purgatory rejecting her because of her last name. She had spent years rebuilding her reputation, and she wasn’t about to lose her best friend. She couldn’t.

 

Chrissy had dropped her defence stance, her face softened as she saw Waverly’s internal conflict coming to the surface.

 

“Waverly, I would _never_ hate you.” Chrissy said slowly, putting her arms around the brunette and holding her for a moment. “Please don’t ever think that.”

 

“I’m seeing Nicole.” Waverly said quietly as Chrissy let go of her. Waverly could see Chrissy trying to process what Waverly had just said, her eyebrows furrowed, her eyes squinting slightly.

 

“Nicole? As in…”

 

“Miss Haught.” Waverly finished as Chrissy had stopped speaking, the blondes mouth hanging open slightly.

 

“Holy shit.” Chrissy ran her hands through her hair and took a step back as everything suddenly clicked into place. “Oh my god.”

 

‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I was just- “

 

“You’re _seeing_ Miss Haught? Like, dating her?” Chrissy asked, cutting Waverly off mid-sentence. Waverly just nodded in response. “I can honestly say I really did not see that one coming. I just thought you had like some family secret or a new best friend, not that you’re screwing our teacher.”

 

“Chrissy!” Waverly felt her cheeks burning.

 

“What? I’m not wrong.” Chrissy laughed and Waverly felt a burden lift off her as her best friends laugh filled the air around them.

 

“So, you’re not mad?” Waverly asked and Chrissy just kept laughing.

 

“No. I don’t think I could ever be mad at you, but we have _a lot_ of catching up to do.”

 

Chrissy and Waverly’s shopping trip swiftly turned into sitting in a café for hours as Chrissy asked her every question she possible could about Nicole and Waverly’s relationship. It felt good to have someone know about her and Nicole. Waverly was never very good with secrets, they made her feel uneasy, like she was carrying a bomb that could go off at any moment, and whilst Nicole was the best secret she ever had, it was good to tell someone. It almost felt more real somehow, now that she could say it out loud.

 

“So, does Wynonna know?” Chrissy asked as she finished her second coffee, setting the mug down gently on the table.

 

“Nope. I’d also like it to stay that way, preferably forever.” Waverly said, her stomach flipping from just the thought of Wynonna finding out.

 

“She’s going to find out one day you know.” Chrissy said with a laugh.

 

“She doesn’t have to know.”

 

“You’re trying to tell me that ten years down the line when you’re married to Miss Haught, that Wynonna isn’t going to know?”

 

“Can we please not skip ten years ahead, and can you please stop calling her _Miss Haught_. Wynonna doesn’t have to know, it’s not like I’m going to end up marrying Nicole for Christ sake.” Waverly had never considered how long her and Nicole would last. She knew college applications were being processed and sent off as she spoke, and if she got into the college she wanted she’d be hours away from Purgatory. From Nicole. But before Waverly could dwell on this, Chrissy pulled her from her thoughts.

 

“Anyway, twenty dollars she finds out before the end of the school year.” Chrissy stood up as she spoke, “Now, let’s actually get some shopping done before all the shops close.”

 

* * *

  

Waverly hadn’t thought it through when she had sent the text to Nicole.

 

_we need to talk._

Her phone was ringing within a second.

 

“Waverly what’s wrong? Is everything okay?” The brunette could hear the panic in Nicole’s voice, it made her heart melt. It was clear to Waverly how much Nicole cared, how she was already scared of losing Waverly.

 

“Everything’s fine… It’s just, I did something stupid.” Waverly said quietly. She was stood outside the homestead, Chrissy had gone home, but Waverly didn’t want to go inside, not yet.

 

“Where are you?” Nicole asked as calmly as she could, trying to keep the worry out of her voice, but Waverly could still hear it.

 

“Outside the homestead, you don’t-“ Waverly was about to explain that she was okay, she wasn’t in danger, she was just terrified that Nicole was going to... Waverly had no idea how Nicole was going to react to this, to her telling Chrissy, and that made Waverly’s stomach clench and her hands tremble by her side. But before Waverly could even finish her sentence Nicole said, “I’ll be there in ten.” and hung up the phone.

 

After ten minutes of Waverly pacing and overthinking, Nicole pulled up, climbing out the car with a trademark smile stitched tightly on her face.

 

“Waves, are you alright?” Nicole asked as she walked over to her girlfriend. Waverly saw Nicole glance around before she pulled Waverly into an embrace. She was checking to see if anyone was around, if anyone was looking, if anyone could see them. Waverly could begin to feel the panic rising in her chest as it sunk in. Nicole didn’t want people to see them. She didn’t want people to know about them. She shouldn’t have told Chrissy.

 

Waverly’s brain started racing alongside her heartbeat, _what if Nicole hates me? What if she breaks up with me? What if she leaves and I never see her again?_ Nicole could visibly see Waverly starting to panic so she walked her over to the car, stroking her hair as she did so.

 

“It’s okay” Nicole whispered against the side of Waverly’s head, placing a soft kiss there before she pulled away to open the passenger door for Waverly, sitting her down before walking around to the driver’s seat.

 

“I told Chrissy.” The words fell out Waverly’s mouth the second Nicole had sat down, before Waverly could think about them.

 

A deafening silence took over the car.

 

After an eternity, Nicole spoke up; “You told Chrissy what?” but deep down she already knew the answer.

 

A sort of confusion laced Nicole’s words and Waverly took a deep breath as she took her girlfriends hand within her own, looking down at Nicole’s hands and then up to her eyes.

Waverly watched as Nicole realised what she had said.

 

“Oh.” Nicole exhaled, her stare becoming distant.

 

“I’m sorry.” Waverly’s voice was shaking, quiet, but as she spoke her voice grew louder, her fears creeping into her words, “I know I shouldn’t have, but I don’t know, she was covering for me because of Wynonna and she’s my best friend and I hated keeping this from her, because you’re so important to me and I hate not being able to say anything to anyone but I don’t want to lose you, please don’t hate me I didn’t meant to-” Waverly words trailed off as tears began to roll down her cheeks and Nicole pulled her close.

 

‘Waverly, I will _never_ hate you.”

 

 

Nicole held Waverly for what felt like hours, and all Waverly could think about was how safe she felt. How Nicole made her feel like everything was okay. Even if the world was collapsing around her, she knew if Nicole was holding her, everything would be okay.

 

“So, you aren’t mad at me.” Waverly asked, making Nicole smile one of her perfect smiles.

 

“No, not at all. I know this isn’t easy, and the situation isn’t ideal, and I can’t imagine how hard it is for you. I don’t know Chrissy, but if you trust her, then I trust her. But we need to make sure she’s the only one that knows, for now.” Nicole spoke calmly, her fingers running through Waverly’s hair as she did so.

 

Waverly knew the two of them had more to talk about, like what was going to happen once school was over for her, when Waverly goes to college, were they ever going to tell Wynonna, but now wasn’t the time. Spring break was next week, they could talk then, she needed to go back to the homestead as it was getting late and Waverly didn’t need Wynonna asking anymore questions.

 

“I should get back home.” Waverly said as she pulled back from Nicole’s arms, a small smile on her face as she looked at the redhead.

 

“Why are you smiling like that?” Nicole asked, the same smile reflecting on her face, her eyebrows raised.

 

“Because, you, you’re just so…” _perfect,_ Waverly thought to herself as she leaned in and brushed her lips slowly over Nicole’s.

 

If Waverly and Nicole’s relationship was _wrong,_ if they weren’t supposed to be together, then Waverly would never understand how being with Nicole, kissing Nicole made her feel like she had a purpose, as if there was something bigger than she’d ever understand.

 

Nicole bit Waverly’s bottom lip, pulling it back slightly with her teeth before soothing it with her tongue. Before Waverly could think what she was doing she pulled Nicole until the redhead was sat on her lap in the passenger’s seat, their bodies flush together.

 

“Waves.” Nicole sighed against the brunette’s lips as Waverly’s hands ran up Nicole’s back, under her top. Waverly knew that sigh was a _we should stop,_ and Waverly knew that they should stop, but as Nicole shivered against her touch, Waverly lost all self-control. Unfortunately, Nicole could still think straight, pulling herself back from Waverly.

 

“You should really go.” Nicole’s voice was deeper than usual, her pupils beyond dilated and her chest heaving. Waverly moved her hands to Nicole’s hips, pulling her down slightly and watching as Nicole stifled a moan.

 

“Or, I could stay.” Waverly whispered, trying to pull Nicole back towards her, but Nicole stayed firmly back.

 

“As much as I would _love_ that, Wynonna is probably waiting for you and the last thing I want is for her to come outside and see us like this.” Nicole said, gesturing to the positon they were in.

 

“Fine.” Waverly groaned. “You’re gonna need to get off me then.”

 

Nicole awkwardly pulled herself back across to the driver’s seat and Waverly opened her door.

 

“See you tomorrow.” Nicole said as Waverly climbed out her seat.

 

“See you tomorrow.” Waverly repeated before closing the car door and walking back to the homestead.

 

Once inside Waverly heard a crash from the kitchen, accompanied by a string of curse words. _Sounds about right._

“Wynonna, you okay?” Waverly yelled as she kicked off her shoes, walking towards the kitchen. Wynonna stuck her head around the door and smiled. She was covered in flour; her hair was practically white. “Oh my god. This is why I shouldn’t leave you for more than three hours at a time.”

 

“I have a shift at Shorty’s in an hour and I didn’t know when you were gonna be back so I thought I’d try cooking.” Wynonna said as she walked back into the kitchen, Waverly following her and wishing she hadn’t. The entire kitchen was covered in flour and other bits of food, Waverly was also pretty sure Wynonna had set something on fire as she could smell a faint burning in the room.

 

“And how’d that go for you?” Waverly asked as she walked back out the kitchen.

 

“Shut up.” Wynonna mumbled.

 

“I’ll go order a takeaway.” Waverly laughed, beginning to dial the number for the pizza place when Wynonna spoke in a tone that made Waverly pause.

 

“Waverly. Is everything okay?” Waverly had never seen Wynonna look this serious in her life. She was concerned. But Waverly just smiled before replying.

 

“Everything is okay, Wynonna.” And she wasn’t lying. Everything really was great for Waverly. She had Nicole, who she could now talk to Chrissy about, college applications were sent off, she felt closer to Wynonna than she had in years. Everything really was okay, it was better than okay, for now anyway.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed that chapter, please leave a kudos or a comment if did as they are so motivating.
> 
> I'll see you next Sunday (I promise) <3


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated? ON TIME??? I know, I'm as surprised as you are.
> 
> let's hope I keep this up then,, but anyway, please enjoy some mild angst and something we've been waiting for...

 

_the only thing worse than losing you is never having you at all_

 

* * *

 

 

Waverly was counting down the seconds until spring break. For Waverly, spring break just meant a week of nothing, occasionally seeing Chrissy or picking up a drunken Wynonna from Shorty’s, but this spring break was a week with Nicole, and it’s all Waverly could think about.

 

“Earth to Waverly.” Chrissy said as she waved her hand in front of Waverly’s face, causing the brunette to snap back to reality.

 

“Yeah?” Waverly wasn’t sure how long she’d been zoned out for, but by the way Chrissy was laughing at her, it had been quite some time.

 

“Who were you thinking about?” Chrissy said with a wink, making Waverly’s cheeks turn a deep shade of red.

 

“Shut up.” Waverly mumbled as the bell went for class, the students flooding out of homeroom.

 

“Sleepover tonight at mine?” Chrissy asked as she grabbed her books and walked away from Waverly.

 

“Yeah sure.” Waverly replied, earning a huge smile from Chrissy as she headed to class.

 

_Five days,_ Waverly thought to herself as she left homeroom, joining the flow of students in the hallway. Five days until spring break, five days until she had a week of nothing but Nicole.

 

* * *

 

Waverly always looked forward to Nicole’s class. It was an excuse for her to stare at her girlfriend and blame it on the fact that you’re supposed to look at the teacher. There was nothing that could take that simple pleasure away from Waverly, at least that was what the brunette had thought.

 

As Waverly sat down, resting her head in her hands as she waited for everyone to settle down and the class to begin, she heard a voice, loud and clear, that made her blood boil instantly.

 

Champ Hardy walked into the classroom, a wide smile stuck on his face, his hair perfectly pushed back because he thought it looked cool like that, but Waverly could confidently say he was wrong in thinking that. Champ walked over to Nicole and dropped a note on her desk. Waverly could see the passing look of anger in Nicole’s eyes as she looked up and acknowledged the student stood at her desk, but it was only for a second before Nicole put her best teacher smile on.

 

As Nicole read the note that was placed on her desk, there was no way she could keep holding her fake smile.

 

“Take a seat please Champ.” Nicole said as she stood up, walking to the front of her desk, Champ scanning the room for an empty desk, his eyes sparkling as he saw the seat directly behind Waverly wasn’t taken.

 

Waverly saw Nicole’s fist tighten around the edge of her desk that she was now perched on as Champ took his seat.

 

“So, class, Champ will be joining us for the rest of the year, if someone after this class could inform Champ of what he has missed so far I would really appreciate it.” Nicole began, before turning to the white board and beginning the lesson.

 

Waverly felt her stomach drop to the floor. There was only one semester left, how he’d managed to get switched into this class was beyond Waverly. He didn’t have enough credit or high enough grades to even take this class in the first place. But before Waverly could start trying to figure out how Champ had managed to ruin her high school experience, she felt the back of her chair being kicked.

 

“You hear that baby?” Champ whispered, the hairs on the back of Waverly’s neck standing in response to his voice, “I’m here for the rest of the year.” Waverly didn’t respond, putting her head back in her hands and closing her eyes, praying that this was a nightmare and any second she’d wake up. But when the bell went, and she opened her eyes, she was still in that classroom and Champ was still behind her.

 

Waverly packed her things away slowly, waiting for the rest of the class to leave so she could ask Nicole how he’d managed to get into this class, but Champ had other ideas.

 

“Waverly, my dear, could you please come to the library with me and show me which books I need to read for this class.” Champ was leaning on Waverly’s desk, his best charming smile on his face, a smile Waverly had fell for far too many times.

 

“You can ask the librarian.” Waverly said, picking up her books, Champ stared at Waverly blankly for a moment until Waverly realised. “You don’t know where the library is, do you?”

 

Champ simply winked at her in response, earning a sigh from Waverly.

 

“Fine, I’ll take you to the library and show you the book, on the condition you stay the hell away from me afterwards.”

 

“How could I stay away from a girl like you?” Champ said quietly, leaning towards Waverly as he spoke. She didn’t move, she didn’t smile, she just waited for him to agree. “Jesus Waves, I’m joking, let’s go.” And with that Champ jokingly punched Waverly’s arm as he walked to the door of the classroom, holding it open for Waverly. Just before she left the classroom, Waverly glanced over at Nicole, giving her a soft smile to show that she was okay, but the look on Nicole’s face clearly demonstrated that the redhead was far from okay.

 

* * *

 

 

When lunch finally came around, Waverly made her way to Nicole’s classroom, finding the redhead sat behind her desk quietly marking some papers. Waverly quickly scanned the hallway around her before stepping into the room, closing the door behind her. 

 

“Hey.” Waverly said as she walked over to Nicole’s desk, the redhead glancing up for half a second before looking back down at the papers in front of her.

 

“Hi.” Nicole’s response was flat. Normally, Nicole couldn’t keep a smile off her face when she saw Waverly, but Nicole wasn’t smiling now, she wasn’t even looking at the brunette.  
  
“You okay?” Waverly questioned, walking around and perching on the desk, her legs brushing against Nicole’s as she sat.

 

Nicole moved her legs away.

 

“Yeah, just busy.” Nicole said, her eyes still glued to the papers. Waverly had never seen Nicole like this, so distant and cold.

 

“Nicole?” Waverly put a sense of begging into her voice, a plead for Nicole to look at her, to tell her what was wrong, but the redhead refused. So, Waverly placed her hand over Nicole’s, stopping the pen that had begun tapping against the table. “Talk to me.”

 

“I don’t want to talk about it Waverly.” Nicole said harshly, her eyes darting, looking at any and everything other than the brunette, her hand pulling away from Waverly’s. It took a second for Waverly to process what was happening, standing up from Nicole’s desk, confused and more hurt than she probably should be.

 

“Fine.” Waverly said, more to herself than Nicole, the redhead still desperately trying to avoid eye contact. Waverly stood for a moment longer, hoping that Nicole would say something, anything to fix whatever the hell had just happened, but instead an overwhelming silence took over them both.

 

Waverly turned and left the classroom, slamming the door behind her.

 

 

Waverly had spent the rest of the school day overthinking. Three hours felt like days and when Chrissy found her, excited for their sleepover, Waverly lied and said she didn’t feel well; “must be that stomach bug that’s going around.”

 

“Oh god, hope it goes away soon.” Chrissy said, a sympathetic smile on her lips “We can have the sleepover later this week.”

 

“Yeah, definitely.” Waverly had replied before heading home. She just wanted to be alone. She knew that sitting in her sorrows, overthinking and driving herself insane wasn’t a good coping mechanism for when something was wrong, but she also knew it was exactly what she was going to do.

 

Wynonna wasn’t home when Waverly walked through the door, so she grabbed some leftover pizza and threw herself onto the couch, putting on a cheesy rom-com that she wasn’t going to pay attention to. Within minutes Waverly’s thoughts took over, everything else became a blur, and when the doorbell rang, Waverly wasn’t sure if she’d been sat there for five minutes or five hours.

 

When Waverly answered the door, she hadn’t been expecting Nicole to be stood there, and from the look on Nicole’s face, she hadn’t been expecting Waverly either.

 

“Hey.” Nicole exhaled as her eyes ran the length of Waverly’s body, the brunette suddenly very conscious of what she was wearing. She was in her sweats, her top exposing her midriff and she smiled to herself as she watched Nicole visibly swallow.

 

“Hi.” Waverly replied after a moment, the atmosphere becoming heavy around them.

 

“Wynonna said you would be at Chrissy’s.” Nicole said slowly, doing her best to keep her eyes locked on anywhere but Waverly’s face.

 

She was failing.

 

“Yeah, something came up.” Waverly explained, stepping aside so Nicole could come in.

 

The two of them walked in silence to the living room, Waverly noticing her heart slamming in her chest and her legs shaking as she walked. She could hear Nicole breathing behind her once she stopped.

 

Waverly turned around, facing Nicole before saying: “Wynonna had a shift at Shorty’s, she’ll be back soon.”

 

“Yeah, sorry, I’m a bit early.” Nicole said, glancing down at her watch before her gaze fell onto the clock on the wall, anything that wasn’t Waverly.

 

“Um, I should go upstairs.” Waverly said, making her way past Nicole as swiftly as she could, not wanting to be stood with Nicole. She wasn’t sure what she wanted from Nicole, but pretending everything was fine after _that_ was not an option Waverly was going to settle for.

 

“Wait-“ Nicole’s voice was barely a whisper, but Waverly heard her. Nicole’s fingers wrapped around Waverly’s wrist as she spoke, stopping her from leaving the room. “Can we talk for a second?”

 

Waverly turned back, following the gentle pull of Nicole’s hand, until she was stood very close to the redhead.

 

“I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry about earlier. I’m just,” Nicole took a deep breath before continuing, Waverly noticing how the hand around her wrist was trembling lightly. “Scared. Scared of losing you, or someone who shouldn’t finding out, or you realising you don’t want this anymore, and Champ. He just made me think that what we have isn’t fair on you, you can’t have a relationship like you did with him.”

 

“Nicole, I don’t want a relationship like I had with him, I don’t want a relationship with anybody but you.” Nicole’s eyes finally fell onto Waverly’s, a small smile curling onto her lips.

 

“I’m sorry.” Nicole said, dropping her head slightly.

 

“It’s okay.” Waverly said quietly, lacing her hand with Nicole’s that was previously round her wrist, her other hand slowly stroking the taller woman’s hair. “Just don’t shut me out like that again.”

 

“I won’t.” Nicole whispered, leaning into Waverly’s touch and what had meant to be a comforting touch suddenly led to Waverly not being able to think about anything but Nicole touching her. The brunette couldn’t help but drop her eyes to Nicole’s lips, and when Nicole bit her lip, Waverly knew she was doomed.

 

Waverly wasn’t sure if it had been her that leaned in first, or if it was Nicole, but either way the two of them crashed together, lips fighting for dominance and hands desperately pulling at clothes. Before Waverly knew what was happening, Nicole had her pinned against the wall, her thigh slotted between the brunette’s legs.

 

“Nicole.” Waverly panted against Nicole’s lips pushing the redhead back so she could think clearly, just a second. “We can’t, Wynonna could see us.”

 

One day, when Waverly Earp settles down and looks back at her life, she knows that this moment is something she’ll never live down. When the only sounds in the room went from Nicole’s and her own shallow breathing to Wynonna’s strong voice saying, “I think it’s a little late for that.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops? bit late with that one Waverly :)
> 
> hope you enjoyed that chapter, I will be back next Sunday with another
> 
> please feel free to leave any comments telling me if you like it or not, as comments are soooo motivational.
> 
> also, if I were to start writing another au, specifically a high school, would you read it?? or is there another wayhaught au or fic you would prefer me to write?! let me know pleaseeee <3
> 
> x


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a day late, I know, I'm sorry :)
> 
> but here's the update and I'll see you on the other side (make a mental note of the quote at the beginning of this chapter, and hate me at the end) <3

_a picture is worth a thousand words_

 

* * *

 

 

Both Waverly and Nicole stood, dumbstruck, neither women knowing what to say. Wynonna was stood, the front door still open, hand on hip and her eyebrows raised. It could have been a few seconds or an eternity, Waverly couldn’t tell the difference, before Wynonna spoke up, shattering the silence.

 

“So, Haught, you didn’t mention you were sleeping with my baby sister.” Wynonna took a step towards Nicole as she spoke, her words wrapped in anger, Nicole stood, frozen still.

  
“Wynonna-“ Nicole tried after a moment of heavy silence, but the oldest Earp wasn’t having it.

 

“Haught, do me a favour and keep your mouth shut, and preferably if you could keep your mouth away from my little sister whilst you’re at it.” As Wynonna spoke, she got closer to Nicole and Waverly, the two women not daring to move away. Waverly had her eyes glued to the floor, pretending this wasn’t happening, that if she closed her eyes this would all go away.

 

But it didn’t.

 

“Wynonna-“ Nicole tried once more, putting on what Waverly knew as her stern teacher voice, but Wynonna wasn’t about to hear Nicole out.

 

“I trusted you, I liked you Haught, I thought we were friends,” Wynonna almost hissed the words friends.

  
  
“We are friends Wynonna.” Nicole's voice was soft, both trying to reassure Waverly and calm Wynonna, yet she was failing, the youngest Earp remained silent and shaking, whilst the older Earp got louder with every sentence.

 

“ _Friends_ don’t tend to sleep with their _friends'_ little sisters without saying something, especially when that _friend_ is their little sister’s teacher, isn’t there like a law against that?” Wynonna had taken a step away from the pair, pacing around the room as she started to ramble.

 

“I’m not sleeping with her.” Nicole said quietly, casting her eyes down to the floor.

 

“Whatever Haught, you had your tongue down her throat.” Wynonna retorted, giving Nicole a death glare as she did.

 

“Wynonna, just stop it.” Waverly broke the silence she had indulged herself in, standing up straight and ignoring her palms sweating by her side. “It’s not like that.”

 

“It’s not like what Waverly? Like you hid this from me? Like you didn’t trust me enough to tell me something like this?” Wynonna was no longer shouting; her voice was breaking as she spoke. Wynonna looked defeated, hurt almost, and Waverly felt her entire body relax. Wynonna wasn’t mad at her, she didn’t hate her, she didn’t necessarily disapprove of her and Nicole's relationship, Wynonna was simply hurt. Hurt that Waverly hadn’t told her, hadn’t even come out to her, kept this a secret from her. Waverly was all Wynonna had left of a family, and for the longest time, Waverly was her older sisters only friend and the only person she trusted. But Wynonna had found Nicole, someone else she trusted, and trusting someone was not easy for Wynonna, but she’d trusted Nicole and she’d trusted Waverly, and they’d both lied to her, kept this from her, and suddenly Waverly understood.

 

“Wynonna?” Waverly waited a moment before stepping towards her sister, Wynonna now refusing to look at her, Nicole still stood still, watching as Waverly moved closer. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you. I was going to, I really was.”

 

“When? When were you going to tell me?” Wynonna shot her head up, Waverly doing the best to ignore the tears forming in her sister’s eyes. Waverly couldn’t remember the last time she had seen Wynonna cry since their father funeral, and Waverly did not want to be the cause of Wynonna’s tears, not now, not ever.

 

“I don’t know, but I should have told you sooner, and I’m sorry I didn’t.” Waverly was stood in front of Wynonna now, reaching out and pulling the Earp into her embrace. “I’m so so so sorry.” Waverly whispered against Wynonna’s shoulder and they held each other.

 

“It’s okay, just _never_ keep something like this from me again, please.” Wynonna replied, pulling back and smiling half-heartedly at her younger sister.

 

“Never.” Waverly affirmed, returning the smile on Wynonna’s face.

 

“And you, Haught,” Wynonna said, turning to look at Nicole who was stood with a small smile on her face. “If you _ever_ even dream of hurting my little sister, I will have to kill you.”

 

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” Nicole laughed.

 

“Good, now get here, I think we need a group hug after that.”

 

“Oh, it’s okay, you guys can hug it out I’m-“

 

“Nicole, get your ass over here right now.” Wynonna said sternly, raising an eyebrow as if to challenge Nicole to say no again, but the redhead complied, the three of them holding each other for a moment before Wynonna spoke up; “So, tell me _everything_.”

 

* * *

  

_One day._

One day until Spring Break, one day until Waverly had a week of Nicole and just Nicole, yet time couldn’t go any slower if it tried. Every class Waverly had she felt like she had been there for days when it hadn’t even been an hour. But after what felt like a decade, the final bell rang, and Waverly let out a sigh of relief.

 

Waverly had told Nicole she’d meet her after school, but the brunette had to wait for the other students to leave, and as it was the last day, no one was sticking around, but they still weren’t leaving fast enough for Waverly’s liking.

 

As Waverly was stood by her locker, pretending like she was looking for something, someone came up behind her, jabbing her playfully in the ribs. Waverly laughed, turning around and expecting to see Chrissy, but instead she was met with a nightmare she couldn't wake up from.

  
  
“What the hell Champ?” Waverly turned back to her locker, ignoring the glint in Champs’ normally dull eyes.

 

“Sorry English buddy, did I scare you?” Champ said through a huge smile, he looked genuinely happy, as if he didn’t have a questionable motive lacing his words, but Waverly knew better than to be that naive. Champ Hardy always had a motive for being nice to her, she just didn't know what it was, _yet_.

 

“No, and don’t call me that.” Waverly said, continuing to look in her locker, hoping Champ would just get bored and leave if she stopped paying him attention, but of course, he didn’t.  
  


“Noted. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I read that book.” Champ sounded proud of himself, as if this minor accomplishment was equivalent to getting a diploma, and Waverly couldn't help but laugh,

 

“You? Read a book? Without pictures in it?” Waverly turned back to face Champ as she spoke, greeted with a cocky smile she hadn't missed. “Well done Champ, you now have the same skills as a fifth grader.” Waverly was hoping for a reaction, for the typically childish Champ to appear, but he was just smiling at her. 

 

“Thanks.” Champ said with a wink before adding; “So, what are you doing during the break?”

  
Waverly felt her cheeks flush with colour before she could even think of a lie, the thought of Nicole consuming her mind.

 

“Nothing interesting, just hanging with Wynonna and Chrissy.” Waverly said through a cough.

 

“Sounds fun.” Champ paused, quickly trailing his eyes down Waverly’s body, making the brunettes skin crawl. “I’m having a party over the break, my parents are out of town for a few days, and as you’re not doing anything, I'd love if you would come.” 

 

Waverly tried desperately to rack her brain for some sort of excuse, but Champ filled the silence before Waverly could get herself out of this.

 

“I’ll send you the details when I know them, see you there.” Champ said as he walked away.

 

Despite Waverly wishing Champ hadn’t spoken to her, he had made the last five minutes not feel like hours, the halls almost empty, Waverly making her way to Nicole’s classroom.

 

Waverly stopped outside Nicole’s classroom, looking through the window in the door, a smile on her face as she saw Nicole. The redhead wasn’t doing anything special, just sorting papers on her desk, but it made Waverly’s heart race, just seeing Nicole made everything worthwhile.

 

Waverly pushed the door open, stepping inside before quietly closing the door.

 

“Hey.” Waverly said, Nicole looking up to catch the brunette’s eyes, and for a second, time seemed to stop.

 

“Hey.” Nicole replied.

 

“You ready?” Waverly asked as she walked over to Nicole, noting how the redhead followed her with her gaze, making Waverly's stomach flip.

 

“Yeah, I just have to find the rest of these papers that I need to mark over the break, shouldn’t take too long.”

 

“Hope you’ll have some spare time after marking all these papers to spend with me.” Waverly said, a seductive tone taking over her voice as she perched herself on the edge of Nicole desk, earning a grin from the redhead.

 

“Baby, I’m gonna be spending all my time with you.” Nicole leaned in slowly, with purpose, and Waverly felt her breathe hitch in her throat, but Nicole quickly kissed her before pulling back, “Once I find these papers.”

 

“You are such a tease Miss Haught.” Waverly joked, noticing the slight reddening of Nicole’s cheeks when she said that.

 

“And you, Waverly Earp, are a distraction and a half.” Nicole said as she picked up a pile of papers and put them into her bag. “Now, let’s get out of here.”

 

“Let’s” Waverly said in agreement, following Nicole out of the classroom, through the empty hallways and to the parking lot. And as the two of them joked around in the car park, they had forgotten the dangers of them being together, they had thought that their problems were solved, that spring break was a chance to be together, that Wynonna finding out had been a disaster they had overcome. But what these two women didn’t know was that Wynonna finding out about them was the least of their problems, and as the camera in the distance flashed once more, the two women oblivious once again, Champ Hardy had a smug smile plastered on his face as he sauntered away.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah, that happened. 
> 
> Let me know if you saw that coming, or just leave any comment cause I love them <3
> 
> I promise next week I will update on Sunday, if not I owe you all some fluff to make up for this.
> 
> x


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so... it's been a month (I've disappeared with my writing for longer okay!) but I'm back, and I have actually prewritten the next few chapters, which means the next couple updates shall be on time (which is every Sunday) <3
> 
> also, I promised everyone who was waiting for this fluff if I updated late, which I did, so enjoy the fluff (cause it won't last long)

 

_ignorance is bliss_

 

* * *

 

 

 _I could get used to this,_ Waverly thought to herself as she watched her girlfriend from afar, marking papers. Waverly had leaning against the doorframe of her study for a few minutes now, but Nicole hadn't noticed, she was too focused in her work, it was something that Waverly adored, the way Nicole could get so captivated in something that the rest of the world became a blur.

 

But even in a blur, Waverly stood out to Nicole, and it wasn’t long until the redhead noticed Waverly’s presence.

 

“How long have you been stood there?” Nicole questioned, putting her pen down, letting herself get distracted, just for a moment.

 

“Not long.” Waverly replied, slowly pulling herself away from the door of the study, walking over to Nicole’s desk. “How much more do you have to do?”

 

“Only these ones left.” Nicole said, gesturing to the pile of unmarked paper, Waverly audibly groaning when she saw which pile Nicole was referring to. “I’ll do it as quick as I can.”

 

“Or,” Waverly said, dragging out the word as she walked around to Nicole’s side of the desk, perching on the edge of it in front of her girlfriend's seat, their legs bumping against one another’s, “you could do it later.”

 

As Waverly spoke, Nicole noticed the suggestive tone lacing her words, Waverly's voice deeper than normal, her stare more intense than Nicole had ever seen. Yet Nicole told herself that she was simply hearing things, making it up in her head, wanting something so badly that she just saw what she wanted. So she picked up her pen and laughed softly before replying, “It won’t take me long, promise.” But as the redhead went to put pen to paper, Waverly moved the papers aside, shifting herself to where the paper was only seconds ago.

 

The innocent smile on the Earp’s face was contradicting her actions.

 

“Baby, I need to-“ Nicole began, her words failing her as Waverly slid herself off the desk and onto Nicole’s lap, the brunettes hands running down Nicole's arms before holding Nicole's hands within her own.

 

“You need to what?” Waverly whispered leaning into Nicole’s neck as she spoke, the vibrations of her words sending shivers down the redheads spine.

 

“I..” Nicole stumbled over her words, she couldn’t begin to construct a sentence when Waverly’s lips were travelling down her throat. Nicole moved her hands to Waverly’s hips without thinking, a smile spreading on Waverly’s face in triumph.

 

They’d been here before, Waverly being a distraction for Nicole, pulling her back to reality for a brief moment, and Nicole was more than grateful for the distraction. She worked too hard, Waverly balanced her, Nicole needed this, she needed Waverly.

 

After what felt like forever, Waverly brought her lips away from the older woman’s neck and kissed Nicole, _hard._ It took a lot for Nicole to keep her hips from jerking up into Waverly. They'd done this before, fooling around, but something was different. Waverly suddenly seemed far more confident with her actions, her hands roaming as she bit Nicole’s lip, soothing it with her tongue moments later, and despite the angle being more than a little awkward, Waverly managed to get her hands under Nicole’s top, her fingers skimming Nicole’s stomach before reaching Nicole’s bra.

 

Nicole was used to this, Waverly’s hand exploring as Nicole did her best to stay on control of her body. Nicole knew Waverly had never been with a woman, like _that,_ and if Waverly just wanted to explore, for now, then that was more than okay. So Nicole did her best to take things slow, ignoring the urge pooling between her legs. But Nicole could tell Waverly was past that, past the gentle touches and exploring, and before Nicole even knew what was happening, Waverly had unhooked her bra, and her hands had swiftly replaced the loose garment.

 

In that moment, Nicole nearly lost herself, she nearly gave in to her girlfriend's touch, but Nicole knew couldn’t go any further without making sure. The last thing Nicole wanted was Waverly to think that she was making any assumptions about what the brunette wanted or didn’t want. Nicole didn’t want to do anything that would remind her of any unpleasant experiences she may have had in the past, with someone who shall not be named.

 

“Waves, hold up a second.” Nicole panted, trying to sit up a little, but Waverly being sat in her lap was making that very difficult. Waverly’s hands fell from Nicole’s breasts to rest on her stomach, her fingers lightly tracing Nicole’s abs. The brunette had an innocent smile plastered on her face, but Nicole could see past that, she knew that Waverly knew _exactly_ what she wanted.

 

“Baby?” Waverly questioned as Nicole sat in silence, her hands slowly drifting back up Nicole’s chest, but Nicole laced her fingers around Waverly’s wrists, pulling her hands out from under her shirt so she could think for a moment without her brain being flooded by Waverly’s touch.

 

“Are you sure?” Nicole asked, knowing Waverly’s intention, the brunette blushing in response.

  
“I am very, _very_ sure.” Waverly husked, leaning back down and capturing Nicole’s lips in a searing kiss.

 

* * *

  

The two of them sat together on the couch, their legs tangled with one another’s, Waverly’s head resting on Nicole’s shoulders, their fingers tracing meaningless patterns on each other’s skin. Neither of them were sure what day it was, or even the time, too lost in each other to notice the world around them.

 

They had put a movie on, but neither of the women were watching anymore, their heads consumed by thoughts, thoughts of each other, thoughts of the future, thoughts of what the end of the school year which was quickly approaching meant for them.

 

Waverly had thought about it a lot, about what going to college meant for her and Nicole’s relationship. Waverly knew she wanted to go to college, in fact, she needed to. The last thing the brunette wanted was to be stuck in Purgatory forever. She wanted to travel, to see the world, to help other, to make a difference, and that was something she could ever do if she didn’t get the hell away from here.

 

But if given the choice between leaving and losing Nicole or staying in Purgatory with Nicole, Waverly knew it would break her in half but she would still leave. And maybe it was naive, but Waverly hoped that Nicole would leave with her, that they could start again somewhere new, somewhere together.

 

Waverly pushed the thought aside, too scared to think about the possibility of losing Nicole when she’d only just found her.

 

“Waves, you alright?” Nicole whispered against the top of Waverly head, gently kissing her forehead making Waverly’s heart melt. Waverly had never felt so safe with someone, so comfortable with being vulnerable, so Waverly took a shot in the dark.

 

“Do you believe in soulmates?” Waverly asked, turning to face Nicole, who had a look of confusion on her face, Waverly’s question seemingly coming from nowhere.

 

“Um, no, I don’t.” Nicole said slowly, looking for Waverly’s reaction to see if she answered right, but the brunette gave away nothing. “Do you?”

 

“I do.” Waverly smiled softly as the redhead’s cheeks began to blush. “I believe that everyone has certain people out there that we are meant to find.”

 

“Are you trying to say we’re soulmates Miss Earp?” Nicole said, trying to sound sarcastic but she couldn’t help the smile growing on her face and the hope laced into her words.

 

“Maybe.” Waverly laughed, burying her face in her hands. “this must sound so stupid.”

 

“No, baby it doesn’t sound stupid.” Nicole said quickly, taking Waverly’s hands in her own and moving them away from her face. “If anyone could make me believe in soulmates, it would be you.” And in that moment, every fear that Waverly had about the future, about losing Nicole, vanished and all that mattered was Nicole, here and now.

 

 _I love you._ Waverly let the thought run through her head, but didn’t dare say them aloud. Loving somebody was not something that Waverly did easily, in fact, love had become more of a curse than blessing for the youngest Earp. But Waverly loved Nicole, and she knew it, but saying it aloud, wasn’t something she was ready for. Not yet anyway.

 

So, Waverly tried her best to say those three words without saying anything, leaning in and capturing Nicole’s lips, desperately trying to convey how she felt. And, like always, Nicole knew _exactly_ what she was trying to say.

 

For both Waverly and Nicole, spring break had become a blur, everyday flowing into the next, every moment making Waverly fall harder. But as Waverly lived in her perfect paradise, Champ Hardy was planning his own paradise, a paradise in which Waverly had a choice to make, a choice that would break her in half. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the fluff made up for you guys having to wait for a month, but I had to throw in a little angst at the end, let me know if you liked it (or if you miss the angst).
> 
> Anyway, I'll see you on Sunday for the next chapter that I'm just going to warn you is the very definition of angst :)))
> 
> <3


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to say I'm sorry (don't hate me) 
> 
> x

_and if you’re still breathing, you’re the lucky ones_

 

* * *

 

 

Waverly really hadn’t missed school, at all, and as she walked into the overcrowded cafeteria, Waverly wished she could go back to spring break. In fact, Waverly wished she could live that week over and over for the rest of her life. For that week they just had each other, it was a safe haven, a place where there was no reason her and Nicole couldn’t be together, there was no judgement, there was nothing but her and Nicole.

 

After weaving her way through the crowds of teenagers and pulling herself from her own thoughts, Waverly found Chrissy and a few others sat at one of the tables, sighing in relief as she sat down in a spare seat.

 

“You not getting any food?” Chrissy asked as the brunette sat down, Waverly barely hearing her over the noise of cafeteria.

 

“Maybe when it calms down up there.” Waverly responded, turning to check what the queue was like, not expecting to see Nicole stood, monitoring the line. The teachers all took turn doing lunch duty, Nicole avoided it like the plague but Waverly lived for the days she did it. It was another excuse to see her girlfriend during the school day and Waverly suddenly regretted sitting in a seat where she had her back to the queue.

 

Just as Waverly was about to turn back round, she caught Nicole’s eye and for a second the cafeteria disappeared and it was just the two of them. But Nicole looked away, and suddenly Waverly was more inclined to go up and join the line.

 

“Don’t think it’s calming down anytime soon.” Chrissy said as she shoved a handful of fries into her mouth.

  
“You’re right, I’ll be right back.” Waverly said, not really listening to what Chrissy had said, her focus entirely on Nicole. She was wearing a white blouse which was tucked carefully into her black fitted suit trousers. It was something so simple, but it made the redhead look _so_ good.

 

Waverly joined the back of the line, carefully watching Nicole, trying it make it look as if she wasn’t staring at her teacher. She was failing, and the closer she got to Nicole, the harder it was to not just stare in awe of the woman before her. Waverly wanted an excuse to speak to Nicole, anything would do, so she took a stab in the dark, praying that Nicole would play along.

 

“Miss Haught.” Waverly said once she was in earshot of the teacher, Nicole turning around to see Waverly.

 

“Waverly, are you okay?” Nicole said, putting her best teacher voice on, but Waverly could hear the falter in it.

 

“Yes, I just wanted to say thank you for the book recommendation, I read it and it was really amazing.” Waverly couldn’t keep the smile off her face, the urge to laugh slowly building.

 

“No problem Miss Earp, anytime.” Nicole said, walking away from Waverly, which was probably a smart idea, but Waverly stilled wished she come back. Better yet, she wished that everyone else would just disappear and it was just the two of them.

 

After Waverly got some food that she didn’t really want, she sat back down, ignoring the desire to turn around and look at Nicole every few seconds.

  

“Waverly, can I talk to you for a second?” Champ had appeared out of nowhere. He was stood just behind Waverly, smiling smugly, his voice was deeper than normal, his tone dripping in a venom. It was as if he had won a game, as if Waverly had lost and he was taunting her, but Waverly had no idea what the game was.

 

Before Waverly had the time to say anything in response to Champ, Chrissy spoke up, “How about you fuck off Champ.”

 

“It’ll take a second, and I’m pretty sure Waverly wants to hear what I have to say.” Champ added a wink on the end of his sentence, Waverly rolling her eyes at the gesture.

 

“Then say it.” Waverly said bluntly.

 

“I don’t think you’ll want someone to overhear this.” Champ said quiet, leaning down to Waverly's ear as he spoke, his breath hot against her neck. Waverly was about to tell Champ to leave, that she had no interest in whatever the boy was going to say, but then Champ looked over his shoulder to where Nicole was stood, before turning back to Waverly and smiled.

 

And Waverly felt her heart plummet.

 

_he knows._

 

Waverly stood up, ignoring whatever Chrissy tried to say as she followed Champ out of the cafeteria. She prayed that she was paranoid, that she was crazy, that Champ just looked behind him because someone called his name, or because he had just wanted to look there. Maybe Waverly was just overthinking this.

 

_god I hope I’m overthinking this,_ Waverly thought to herself as Champ opened a classroom door. He quickly checked the room was empty before holding the door open for Waverly, gesturing for her to go inside, and reluctantly she did.

 

“So, Waverly-”

 

“What do you want Champ?” Waverly said, cutting Champs off, her voice harsh, trying to hide the tremble she can feel growing in her hands.

 

“I’d play nice if I were you.” Champ said, sitting down on top of the empty desk, swinging his legs as he spoke.

 

“And why is that?” Waverly questioned, her voice coming out weaker than she intended. She crossed her arms, trying to come across as calm and collected, almost as if she was bored of his presence, but in reality she was trying to stop tears forming in her eyes.

 

Champ pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocked, jumping off the desk her was sat on and walking over to where Waverly was stood. Champ was quite a bit taller than Waverly, meaning he towered her a little, ignoring this, Waverly stood her ground, pretending that everything was fine, as if she didn’t have anything to hide.

 

Champ spoke, his voice low, “because if you don’t play nice, _this_ might fall into the wrong hands.” Champ handed Waverly the piece of paper and then took a step back, watching as the brunettes shaking hands unfolded the paper.

 

Waverly was not sure what she was expecting, some sort of threat written down perhaps, but out of all the possibilities that crossed Waverly’s mind, this didn’t even come close.

 

“Where did you… How?” Waverly said, her words coming out in a stutter as she stared at the photo of her and Nicole. The photo was from a few weeks ago, the two of them had held hands across Nicole’s desk, for a brief second, after school had ended and everyone had left. They were careful, they were alone, they barely touched.

 

But Champ was there, he saw, and he took a photo of them.

 

“How I got this really doesn’t matter, does it?” Champ said proudly, as if he were proud of his actions, proud of making Waverly’s world come tumbling down around her in a matter of seconds. “What does matter, is that you do what I say before I make that photo appear all over the school.”

 

Waverly took a second, not wanting to hear whatever sick and twisted thing Champ wanted from her. Waverly looked down at the photo in her hand. She could talk her way out of this, she could convince anybody that Nicole was simply comforting her after an incident with Wynonna. Surely people would believe her, why wouldn’t they? Waverly Earp, the star student sleeping with her teacher just didn’t sound right.

 

“I’m not doing shit for you,” Waverly said, her voice shaking, doubting herself as the words flowed from her mouth, “I don’t know what you’re trying to suggest with this, but this _really_ isn’t what it looks like.” Waverly smiled, an unconvincing smile, but it was the best she could do.

 

“Don’t play dumb with me baby,” The use of the word baby made the hair on the back of Waverly’s neck stand up, her stomach twisting. “and if it’s not what it looks like, explain this.” Champ handed Waverly another piece of paper from his pocket and Waverly’s breath hitched in her throat. She didn’t want to open it.

 

But she did.

 

She had to.

 

It was another photo of her and Nicole, but this time they were holding each other in an embrace. It took a second for Waverly to place the photo in her head, everything was too much to take in, but when it clicked she felt defeat flood her veins.

 

It was taken outside the ice cream parlour. He had followed them on one of their dates.

 

“How long have you been stalking me you sick bastard.” Waverly choked, feeling her body being thrown into a panic, tears appearing in her eyes.

 

“Long enough to know this is _exactly_ what it looks like.” Champ’s words were accompanied with a wink.

 

“What do you want Champ?” Waverly says coldly, clenching her fists as she spoke, crumpling the photo in her hand.

 

“Firstly, you can rip that photo to shreds for all I care, I have a thousand or so copies.” Waverly dropped the photo to ground, the ball of paper bouncing over to Champ who knelt down to pick it up, putting it back into his pocket before continuing, “Secondly, I want you to end whatever disgusting relationship you and Miss Haught are in.”

 

_disgusting._

The word consumed Waverly.

 

“There is nothing disgusting about me and Nicole, Champ.” Waverly said slowly, trying to stay as calm as she could when every ounce of her body wanted to breakdown.

 

“It’s illegal Waverly.” Champ said while shaking his head.

 

“I’m eighteen Champ, or did you forget?”

 

“She’s a teacher Waverly, there’s a law against them sleeping with their students.” Champ paused before adding “or did you forget?”

 

Waverly didn’t know how to respond, what else she could say. If Champ showed the principal these photos Nicole could lose her job, she could lose her teaching licence, she could get arrested.

 

Champ had won, at whatever sick and twisted game he was playing, he won and Waverly didn’t know what else she could do.

 

Waverly was stood, silent, her mouth hanging slightly open as she tried to say something, anything that would fix this, but silence consumed the room.

 

“As fun as this is, I’m going to go now, don’t want to miss the whole of lunch.” Champ said, sliding off the desk he was sat on, heading towards the door. “You have till the end of the day Waves.”

 

“Why are you doing this?” Waverly’s voice was barely a whisper, tears rolling down her cheeks as she failed to hold them back.

 

“Because you hurt me.” Waverly almost laughed as those words left Champ’s mouth.

 

“You cheated on me, and that somehow hurt you?” Waverly said, laughing out of disbelief that Champ was threatening to take away the best thing she had ever had going, because he screwed someone else.

 

“I loved you Waverly, I loved you and you left me, and it hurt. I want you to know what that feels like.”

 

“You are so fucking immature, if you had loved me Champ, if you gave a single shit about me, you wouldn’t be doing this.” Waverly stood with her head held high, despite the tears pouring down her face and the trembling that had taken over her body, she stood tall.

 

Champ ignored Waverly’s statement, a huge smile spreading across his face which said a thousand words. As he opened the door of the classroom, he looked back at Waverly and opened his mouth to speak. Waverly had hoped he’d say he was only joking, or that he was sorry, but instead; “Oh, and if you tell Nicole, or anyone for that matter, I’ll make sure everybody in Purgatory has a copy of those photos.” And with that, Champ left the classroom, leaving Waverly alone.

 

Waverly wiped away the few tears rolling down her cheeks, trying to compose herself, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Waverly knew Champ was a piece of shit, but she didn’t think he would do something like that, something so cruel.

 

But he had, and Waverly didn’t know how to get out of this.

 

She couldn’t lose Nicole, it would break her in half, but if she had to choose between her own happiness and Nicole keeping her job, and potentially Nicole being arrested, then Waverly already knew what she was going to pick.

 

* * *

  

Waverly had spent the entire afternoon in silence, afraid that if she opened her mouth everything would come spill out, that she’d break down and she would never be able to be put back together.

 

She was doing well, holding herself together, stitching a smile on her face, that was until English.

 

The second Waverly saw Nicole sat at her desk, she felt as if the room was closing in around her, as if the world was about to implode and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

 

Nicole looked up from her desk, concern instantly flashing across her face as she saw Waverly, the brunette’s eyes swollen and red, her cheeks stained from the stray tears that had escaped over the last few hours.

 

Waverly dropped her eyes to the floor, feeling Nicole’s eyes burning into her skin as she walked to her desk, but Nicole’s stare was not the only Waverly could feel on her, and glancing round she saw Champ. He was watching her, a sparkling wide smile on the boy’s face as he did.

 

She sat down at her table, keeping her eyes glued to the floor, letting her hair cover her face as she tried to steady her breathing.

 

_this was happening._

 

“Waverly, can I speak to you for a minute please.” Nicole said as the bell went, students already bolting for the door. Waverly had lost herself, time passing without her knowledge and she suddenly wished she’d counted the seconds she had left with Nicole because the timer had just run out.

 

Waverly sunk further into herself as Chrissy walked past her, praying that some sort of miracle could happen so she didn’t have to do this, and as naïve as it was, as Champ walked towards Waverly, she hoped he’d take it all back.

 

But of course, he didn’t.

 

“Made your decision?” Champ said, sliding another photo of her and Nicole onto Waverly’s desk. Waverly quickly snatching the photo, putting it at the bottom of her bag.

 

“I’ll do it.” Waverly said, she didn’t sound angry, her voice weak, broken.

 

“Good.” Champ said under his breath before raising his voice to a normal level. “Thanks, see you tomorrow Waves.”

 

_Waves,_ she hated him calling her that. It made her feel as if they were close enough for him to have a nickname for her. Nicole was the only person she wanted to use nicknames for her, but after this, Waverly was pretty sure Nicole wasn’t going to be calling Waverly any nicknames. Well, not ones Waverly wanted to hear anyway.

 

The classroom quickly emptied and Waverly was left alone, Nicole walking over to where the brunette was sat.

 

Waverly kept her head down, hiding the fresh tears falling, her hands rested on the desk to keep them from shaking.

 

“Waverly?” Nicole said gently, her hand moving towards Waverly, trying to comfort her but Waverly sharply pulled her hands away from Nicole, the redhead visibly flinching.

 

“Waves?” Nicole whispered, her voice cracking, fear taking over her as Waverly rejected a simple touch.

 

Something was wrong, and Nicole knew it, but she would never have thought that Waverly was going to say what she did.

 

“I can’t do this.”

 

Waverly felt the guilt wash over her as the words fell from her mouth. Nicole was going to think that she had done something wrong, and Waverly couldn’t tell her otherwise. Waverly couldn’t tell Nicole that this wasn’t anything she had done, that this was going to destroy her. She couldn’t tell Nicole how amazing she was, how much she wanted to pull her into an embrace, how she just wanted to run away with her. She couldn’t tell Nicole that she didn’t want this, that she wasn’t doing this because she wanted to, that this was the last thing she ever wanted, that she was doing this for Nicole. Waverly was losing the woman she loved so that Nicole’s life wouldn’t be ruined, so that Nicole wouldn’t grow to resent Waverly.

 

_The woman I love,_ Waverly let the thought take over her system andshe suddenly felt everything stop as she realised she could never tell Nicole she had fallen in love with her.

 

Waverly wasn’t sure how long it had been since those words had fallen from her lips, but the silence had become deafening and Waverly knew she couldn’t stare at the floor forever. The moment she looked up, Waverly wished she could go back, she wished she could take everything back.

 

“You can’t do _this_?” Nicole said slowly, gesturing between them, not hiding the tears that were already rolling down her cheeks. Waverly wanted nothing more than to wipe those tears from Nicole’s face, to hold her, to tell her everything was going to be okay.

 

But she couldn’t.

 

And she didn’t.

 

“I can’t.” Waverly reaffirmed, ignoring every instinct telling her to break, to tell Nicole the truth, to tell her this was the opposite of what she wanted.

 

_this isn’t happening._

But it was.

 

Nicole was stood, still, silent as tears just streamed down her face. Waverly knew she couldn’t watch this, she couldn’t watch Nicole like this knowing that she was the reason why.

 

“I’m so sorry.” Waverly said, quickly grabbing her bag off the table and standing up, Nicole still not moving, not saying anything.

 

Waverly left the room, closing the door behind her, and walked away without looking back.

 

She wasn’t sure how she made it home, her legs threatening to buckle every few steps, but she did. All Waverly wanted was to go to bed and pray she’d wake up and this day would just be a nightmare that felt far too real, that Nicole would be hers.

 

But she knew that wouldn’t happen.

 

“Baby girl, how was your day?” Wynonna yelled from the other room as Waverly closed the front door. She felt her entire body give in as she tried to respond to Wynonna’s question. She slowly sunk to the floor, her lungs desperate for air as she broke, crying silently, her body rocking as she tried to think of a way to fix this. But Waverly wasn’t even sure if this was fixable anymore.

 

“Waverly?” Wynonna’s voice was louder than before, the oldest Earp coming to check why Waverly had fallen silent, stopping in her tracks as she saw her sister holding her knees to her chest, her eyes stained red and her entire body rocking.

 

Wynonna didn’t say anything, she didn’t ask, she knew that Waverly could barely function right now and talking about whatever was wrong wouldn’t help her. She needed to let this out, to pour out her emotions until she had nothing left, until she could speak without a flood of tears escaping from her eyes.

 

So, Wynonna sat down next to her sister, pulling her close and holding her for as long as she needed to be held, waiting for the shaking to stop, for her breathing to slow down, waiting for everything to be okay.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so that just happened. Feel free to yell at me in the comments or on twitter (@earpsolano) as even comments about how much you hate me can be motivating ;)
> 
> next chapter should be interesting, I'll see you next Sunday <3


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a day late but at least it's not a month this time! Anyway, hope you enjoy <3

 

  _they say follow your heart, but if your heart is in a million pieces, which piece do you follow?_

 

* * *

 

 

 

Waverly woke up in her bed, still in her clothes from the previous day. She didn’t remember going to bed, the last thing she could recall was Wynonna holding her, telling everything was going to be okay. Waverly almost laughed at the thought, _as if this could ever be okay_.

 

Waverly did not plan on getting up, in fact, Waverly didn't plan on ever leaving her bed again. The thought of going to school made her stomach clench, Waverly having to push down the verge to throw up. School had suddenly become the epitome of her worst nightmares, having to see Nicole, letting Champ see that he’d won, that he had broken her. So Waverly rolled over, pulling the blanket tightly around herself as she hoped sleep would take over so she didn’t have to think, so she could just be.

 

Wynonna, on the other hand, had very different plans.

 

“Waverly?” Wynonna whispered, gently pushing the door open in contrast to her typical way of waking up her younger sister. “Are you awake?”

 

“No.” Waverly tries to reply sarcastically but her voice is hoarse, her throat swollen, and instead of sarcasm lacing her words, it's pain.

 

Wynonna doesn’t bother with a witty response to Waverly, instead sitting down on the edge of the bed, running her hands through Waverly’s hair.

 

“You ready to talk about it yet?” Wynonna asks carefully, not wanting to have a repeat of the day before but needing to know what was happening. Wynonna knew that Waverly was independent, she knew how to look after herself, and when she was ready to talk about whatever was wrong she would. But that didn’t make seeing the youngest Earp like this any easier.

 

Waverly could feel the emotions that sleep had suppressed rising in her chest, her veins suddenly carrying the panic around her body. She wanted to tell Wynonna, she wanted Wynonna to fix it, and Waverly knew that her sister could make this better. Wynonna would fix it, she always did. Yet Waverly couldn’t get the words out, too scared of the concept of _what if_.

 

_What if_ Nicole couldn’t teach anymore

 

_What if_ Nicole got arrested because of her. 

 

_What if_ Nicole grew to hate Waverly for being the reason she lost everything.

 

_What if Nicole never wanted to see her again._ Waverly felt her heart stop as the last _what if_ may have become a reality.

 

“If you tell me what's wrong I won’t force you to go to school.” Wynonna said, and Waverly could hear the smile curving onto Wynonna's lips as she said it. She knew that Wynonna would have to literally drag her into school and even then, Waverly wouldn’t go to class, there was no way.

 

Waverly wasn’t sure how long Wynonna stayed with her and she wasn’t sure how long she’d been gone when she brought up some food for Waverly and told her to eat it. Waverly ate the food that Wynonna would bring her, she drank the water that was left by the side of her bed, she got up when she had to use the bathroom, but other than that, Waverly stayed in her bed. Time becoming a mere concept that Waverly had completely lost track of.

 

Wynonna always knocked before she went into Waverly's room, hoping that Waverly would say something, tell her to come in, that she was okay. But she never did. So when Waverly heard a knock at the door, she didn’t even think to respond. She didn’t want to see Wynonna, she didn’t want to see anyone, she didn't want to be questioned for the thousandth time, but if Wynonna needed to see her then she could come in anyway.

 

Which is what she did, the door creaking as it was slowly opened and shut, the bed dipping from the weight of the girl as she sat down next to Waverly.

 

‘Well you look like shit.” Waverly shot up as she registered the voice that spoke, seeing Chrissy smiling back at her.

 

“Thanks asshole.” Waverly grumbled as she laid back down, going to turn away from Chrissy, but her best friend’s hands on Waverly's arm stopped her.

 

“Absolutely not,” Chrissy pulled on Waverly’s arms, forcing the brunette to sit up and look at Chrissy, “you don’t get to go MIA on me for three days and then roll over and ignore the fact that I’m here.”

 

_Three days?_ Waverly wasn’t sure how long she’d sat in her darkened room, but to Waverly it had felt like a few hours, not days.

 

Waverly didn’t say anything in response to her best friend, she just looked at Chrissy, waiting for her to continue, to ask her what had happened with Champ, why she wasn’t in school. She had already come up with a hundred lies to tell to cover the truth, desperately trying to control a situation in which she had lost control. But Chrissy didn’t ask about Champ, knowing Waverly far too well to know that _this_ wasn’t over some boy.

 

“What happened with Nicole?” Chrissy asked, her voice softer than before, the joking tone once there disappeared, it was replaced with a calmer tone, an understanding one. Waverly wasn’t sure how to answer Chrissy, her mouth moving slightly but no words came out as she tried to process the thought of Nicole without breaking down, again.

 

“How…” Waverly began, trying to get out all the words that the voice in her head was screaming, everything was too much, and thankfully Chrissy could sense that.

 

“How did I know it was something to do with Nicole?” Chrissy finished, Waverly nodding in response. “Well, when both of you, who have a hundred per cent attendance, didn’t show up for school for three days in a row, I kind of assumed.”

 

Waverly felt everything stop but at the same time it was as if she’d be sent into overdrive, her thoughts over taking her, Chrissy’s voice fading into the distance as she tried to comprehend what that meant. Was Nicole sat at home, as much as a mess as Waverly was now? Or was she sick and needed someone to look after her? Waverly wanted to hold Nicole, to tell her everything was okay and that she was there for her, and if Nicole wanted Waverly would always be there for her. It sounded insane, they hadn’t been together for long, a few months, but Waverly knew she’d already found her forever.

 

But she’d lost her.

 

“Waverly,” Chrissy said, waving her hand in front of Waverly’s face, which had become a regular occurrence since Waverly had met Nicole. “What happened?”

 

And Waverly opened her mouth to tell Chrissy about Champ, about why she’d ended things with Nicole, why she felt so empty and drained yet on the edge of imploding due to overwhelming emotions, but she knew she couldn’t.

 

So, she didn’t.

 

“It doesn’t matter.” Waverly sighed, Chrissy giving her a look that just said _bullshit,_ but Waverly ignored it.

 

Before Chrissy had the chance to try again, there was another knock at Waverly’s door, Wynonna not waiting for an answer, coming to join Chrissy on the bed that Waverly was refusing to leave.

  
  
“She said anything to you?” Wynonna asked Chrissy who just shook her head in response.

 

“You sent Chrissy to try and get me to talk?” Waverly asked, looking at Chrissy who just gave her a sympathetic smile.

 

“What else do you want me to do Waverly? You won’t talk to me, apparently you won’t talk to Chrissy and I’ve been trying to get a hold of Nicole but it’s like she’s dropped off the face of the planet.” Wynonna stood as she spoke, gesturing with her arms dramatically and she let her anger out. It wasn’t anger aimed at Waverly, and Waverly knew that, Wynonna felt useless, and she hated it, which just made Waverly feel worse.

 

She felt like a burden, a problem that couldn’t be solved, only getting worse the longer she remained unsolved. As if she were a grenade that was just getting closer and closer to going off and hurting everyone in her path.  She had hurt the people she loved, she’d hurt Nicole and now Wynonna who was just trying to help and Waverly wasn’t letting her.

 

Waverly stopped for a moment. She needed to stop thinking, because thinking was leading to overthinking, and that wasn’t helping anyone. She needed to just do something, anything to make this better without over analysing it to a point where there wasn’t a solution.

 

And that’s exactly what she did.

 

“I ended things with Nicole.”

 

Wynonna’s pacing ceased, the room stilled.

 

“You what?” Chrissy said in disbelief.

 

Both Wynonna and Chrissy knew Waverly better than the brunette knew herself, and they could both see how much happier she had been since she started seeing Nicole. Waverly was more herself than she had ever been, and watching her become authentically herself had made Wynonna feel as if everything would be okay. Both girls knew how important Nicole was to Waverly, every word that was said in reference to Nicole was wrapped in admiration and a need, so whatever they had thought had happened, it was not _that._

 

“Don’t make me say it again.” Waverly said weakly, hearing the words aloud making everything seem far too real.

 

“But why?” Wynonna asked as she sat back down, another silence taking over as Waverly took a second.

 

She had to say something, because she couldn’t do this, and as hard as it was for Waverly, she had to put herself first.

 

So, Waverly explained how Champ had been following her and Nicole, about the photos he had taken and how he’d threatened to tell the school, to get her arrested. How if she didn’t break up with Nicole he’d ruin her career, how he would know if she told anyone and how she had broken up with Nicole. As she explained, both Chrissy and Wynonna stayed quiet, both listening intensely and keeping themselves calm, but the second Waverly finished, Wynonna jumped off the bed and headed to the door.

 

“I’m going to _fucking kill him,_ little sick and twisted bastard I swear to god I’m-“ as Wynonna spoke, she flung the door open, clearly intending to keep try to her words, Waverly quickly getting out of her bed and grabbing onto Wynonna, pulling her back.  
  
“Wynonna, you can’t, he’ll know, Wynonna please.” Waverly could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks again, the combination of talking about everything that had happened and the thought of Champ knowing she had told Wynonna causing her to shake against Wynonna has she held her. “Please.” Waverly whispered, holding Wynonna’s back, the older Earp stopping her movements and her body relaxed.

 

Wynonna turned around and pulled Waverly into her arms, holding her as close as she could, whispering “I’m so sorry babygirl.” against Waverly’s forehead.

 

“If she’s not going to kill him, can I?” Chrissy spoke up after a few minutes, standing up and walking over to doorway where Wynonna and Waverly were.

 

“Nobody is killing anybody.” Waverly said through a small laugh, holding out her arm for Chrissy to join her and Wynonna in their embrace.

 

Eventually the three of them went downstairs to sit on the couch and figure out what to do next, Chrissy and Wynonna promising that this was fixable, that Champ wasn’t going to win, but to Waverly, he already had. Wynonna had made cookie dough, the three of them passing round the bowl and wooden spoon, Waverly feeling as if there was some light at the end of the tunnel she had never planned of entering.

 

It took a lot for Waverly to be present in the conversation happening between Wynonna and Chrissy, her mind wandering, her thoughts dragging her away from reality. She hadn’t noticed the knock at the door, or Wynonna going to answer it, but she saw Chrissy’s eyes go wide at the sound of the voice at the door and she felt her stomach drop.

 

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea.” Wynonna’s voice became clearer as Waverly walked towards the door, not thinking about what she was doing, about how bad of an idea this was, she was just thinking how much she needed this, to see her.

 

“Wynonna, I _need_ to talk to-“ Nicole’s voice trailed off as Waverly stepped around Wynonna, ignoring Wynonna gently trying to pull her back from the door.

 

Neither Nicole or Waverly spoke, the two of them just looking at one another, not knowing what to say or where to begin.

 

“I’ll be inside if you need me.” Wynonna whispered to Waverly, heading back inside, leaving the two of them alone.

 

Nicole looked broken. Her eyes were bloodshot, black bags cradling them, showing the lack of sleep the redhead had gotten over the last three days. Waverly could feel her heart racing. She’d missed Nicole, just seeing the redhead made Waverly’s head spin, and whilst three days was really no time at all, for Waverly, it felt like she hadn’t seen Nicole in months. Waverly knew she looked rough, self-care having been a myth over the last few days, but she also knew Nicole wouldn’t have care, that she was beautiful to Nicole no matter what.

 

Waverly wondered if Nicole still thought that now.

 

The silence had become thick, unbearable, Waverly desperately searching for something, anything she could say to Nicole to make this right, but Nicole beat her to it, breaking the silence.

 

“Why?” Nicole didn’t need to say anything else, she didn’t need to even ask why, Waverly owed her an explanation. If Nicole had broken things off without a reason why, without an explanation that made sense, then Waverly would have been broken, destroyed.

 

“I had to.” Waverly tried, not knowing where to begin, she hadn’t thought she’d have to tell Nicole so soon, thinking she had time to talk this through with Wynonna, what to say, how to make sure she didn’t make this worse, not that it could get much worse.

 

“Oh, _you had to,_ now I understand.” Nicole’s voice was filled with a venom Waverly didn’t know was there.

 

“Nicole, please-“ Waverly began, taking a step closer to the redhead who instantly took a step back, clearly keeping her distance from Waverly, knowing she had no control over herself when Waverly was close.

 

“No, don’t, you don’t get to beg me to listen, you didn’t even give me a chance to take in what was happening. You just left me, alone, without a reason why. I’ve been driving myself insane, questioning everything we did, everything that I had said to you, anything that I could have done wrong, thinking maybe I’d hurt you.” Nicole’s voice was breaking, her breathing become short and sharp, tears threatening to fall as she continued, “And I have no idea where I went wrong, so I don’t want the bullshit apology, I want to know why, please just tell me why because I can’t-“

 

Waverly hadn’t planned on saying anything until Nicole was finished, she wanted Nicole to get it off her chest, everything she’d been holding in Waverly wanted to be out in the open. Waverly really hadn’t planned on cutting Nicole off mid-sentence by yelling “because I love you.”, but by the way Nicole was staring at her in stunned silence, it was safe to say that Waverly’s plans had just gone out the window.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so the I love you bomb has been dropped, and on Sunday (hopefully) we will see how Nicole responds to that.
> 
> you know the drill, please leave a comment letting me know if you enjoyed it/your thoughts as it is so so motivating 
> 
> Until next time <3 <3


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you guys for all your support on this fic so far, it means the world to me <3
> 
> also, I'm updating on time??? it is a miracle, so please enjoy this chapter of you are my secret 
> 
> x

 

_without rain, there is no flowers_

 

* * *

 

“You can’t do that.” Nicole whispered, her voice barely audible over the sound of the breeze running between them, but Waverly heard her.

 

Waverly didn’t need to ask _what,_ she knew what Nicole was saying. She had no right to admit that she was in love with Nicole after leaving her in the dark with no explanation, for making Nicole think she had done something wrong. Waverly hadn’t even meant to say those three words, everything was just too much and she needed to say it before her head imploded.

 

So she did.

 

“Nicole,” Waverly began carefully, taking a small step towards Nicole as she spoke, feeling herself relax slightly as the redhead didn’t step away. “I can explain this, I promise, I just need you to trust me. Please can you come in for a minute and let me explain everything, if you never want to see me again afterwards, I’d understand, just please let me try and explain.” Waverly was stood directly in front of Nicole now, she could feel the heat of Nicole’s body in contrast to the cool air. It took every ounce of control for Waverly not to reach out, to touch Nicole, to hold her and promise it was all going to be okay. But Waverly didn’t know if this was going to be okay. Even if she told Nicole the truth, she knew there was still the possibility Nicole would bolt, that she would think Waverly was better without her, or that she’d be better off without Waverly.

 

Waverly pushed the thought aside. All she could do was explain to Nicole what had happened, and how Nicole reacted was out of her hands.

 

Nicole didn’t reply to Waverly, she just nodded her head slowly, looking down at the ground. Waverly could see Nicole’s hands shaking by her side, she wanted to take them within her own, but she didn’t want Nicole to reject her touch, because after everything, _that_ might break her.

 

They walked in silence back to the house, Wynonna beginning to say something as they came through the door, but seeing Nicole led the older Earp to join in with the silence.

 

Waverly walked through to the dining room table and took a seat, Nicole following her, standing careful.

 

“Baby-girl, me and Chrissy are going down to the market.” Wynonna said as her and Chrissy quickly headed to the door. Waverly knew she was lying, it was late, the market would have closed hour ago, but she didn’t bother saying that.

 

“See you later.” Waverly replied, not taking her eyes of Nicole who had sat down in the seat opposite her, the redhead doing her best to avoid eye contact.

 

Waverly didn’t speak straight away, wondering how long Nicole could avoid looking at her. Waverly hoped that maybe the sight of her was simply too painful for Nicole, instead of Nicole not wanting to look at Waverly. Whatever the reason, minutes passed and Nicole didn’t say a word, her eyes still glued to the table.

 

“I didn’t want to do what I did Nicole.” Waverly said, hoping Nicole would look up at her, hoping she could try make the redhead understand that this was the last thing she had wanted. But Nicole kept her head down, almost as if Waverly hadn’t said anything.

 

“Nicole?” Waverly said slowly, Nicole looked up a little, but not quite into Waverly’s eyes. “I didn’t want this, I had to-“

 

“Why?” Nicole cut her off, looking straight at her, and Waverly suddenly wished she was looking at the table instead. Nicole’s eyes were bloodshot, the lighting in the room making them clear, the bags under her eyes conveying the lack of sleep. She looked broken.

 

“Champ.” Waverly said bluntly, not knowing where to begin, how to make this any better.

 

“Champ? The fuck does he have to do with any of this?” Nicole said, her words coming out harsher than intended, Waverly taken aback slightly, trying not to let the tears suddenly filling her eyes spill. She could tell Nicole hadn’t meant to be that direct, the fear in her eyes that she might have hurt Waverly clearly present.

 

“He made me do it.” Waverly said softly, Nicole’s face falling, her tough exterior melting away in seconds.

 

Nicole didn’t say anything, knowing Waverly wasn’t finished, and once Waverly got back in control of her breathing, she continued, “He told me if I didn’t end things with you that he’d tell the school, get you fired or arrested. He had photos of us, from our dates, in the classroom. I didn’t know what to do and he said if I told you then he’d know and I- I just didn’t know what to do.” Tears were streaming down Waverly’s face at this point, she’d let her eyes fall to her feet, not being able to look at Nicole as she spoke. She felt as though she had failed Nicole, she felt ashamed and stupid. The last thing she wanted to see was that expression on Nicole’s face as she spoke, afraid Nicole was looking at her the way Waverly was thinking about herself.

 

Before Waverly knew what was happening, she felt Nicole’s arms around her, pulling her out of the chair so that she was standing in Nicole’s arms.

 

“It’s okay.” Nicole whispered, placing a kiss on the top of Waverly’s head as she held her, “I’ve got you.”

 

The two of them stood for what felt like hours, holding one another, Waverly trying to control her shaking breaths and trembling body.

 

“I thought I was doing the right thing.” Waverly whispered against Nicole’s chest once the tears had subsided.

 

“I know.” Nicole replied, running her fingers gently through Waverly’s hair.

 

“So, you don’t hate me?” Waverly asked, pulling away from Nicole slightly so she could see Nicole’s face.

 

“I don’t think that’s possible.” Nicole smiled softly, wiping a stray tear from Waverly’s cheek.

 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before it’s just-“ Waverly began, but Nicole placed her finger gently over the brunette’s lips, stopping her mid-sentence.

 

“You did what you had to do, it’s okay.” Nicole said, her fingers moving to Waverly’s jaw, a small smile appearing on Waverly’s face.

 

It was the first time she had smiled in three days.

 

Waverly noticed Nicole’s arms tighten around her waist, looking up to see the same smile on her face mirrored on Nicole’s, and just as the two of them leaned in-

 

“Guess who!” Wynonna yelled as she kicked the front door open.

 

“She really has the _worst_ timing.” Nicole whispered before she pulled back Waverly, but Wynonna had already seen them.

 

“Oh, thank the lord you two sorted that out, thought I was going to have to kill Nicole and whilst I do enjoy a good murder, two in one night really isn’t my style.” Wynonna said causally as she walked over to the couch.

 

“I’m sorry, two in one night?” Waverly said, her stomach dropping through the floor.

 

“Jesus Christ baby-girl, lighten up, I’m just fucking with you.” Wynonna laughed at the horrified looks on both Nicole and Waverly’s face.

 

“Almost forgot how much I hated you Wynonna.” Nicole said, a hint of sarcasm in her words.

 

“How could you forget Haught Stuff?” Wynonna restored with a wink, Nicole and Waverly joining Wynonna in the living room.

 

“What are we going to do about Champ then?” Waverly asked carefully, not entirely sure if that was the best way the phrase her question, but both Nicole and Wynonna knew what she meant.

 

“Who?” Wynonna asked, a fake expression of confusion stitched on before a huge smile spread across her face and her eyes sparkled. “Oh, don’t worry, he won’t be a problem anymore.”

 

Both Nicole and Waverly looked at each other before looking back at the older Earp.

 

“Wynonna, what the hell did you do?”

 

* * *

 

Turns out, Champ isn’t as big and brave as he pretended to be, and a very brief conversation with Wynonna that heavily suggested if he ‘didn’t back the fuck up and get his pathetic ass away from Waverly’ that he’d end up ‘with his tiny dick cut off and shoved down his throat.’

 

Wynonna had said there were hand actions that accompanied her threats but Waverly didn’t want to see them.

 

Waverly was still concerned that Champ could just pull out the photos he had of her and Nicole and ruin everything, but Wynonna had that covered.   
  
“We held a little bonfire in his garden, it included those photos, some tree branches and oh, his phone.” Wynonna had said, the biggest smile on her face.

 

“You really shouldn’t have enjoyed that you know?” Waverly had said, resting her head on Nicole’s chest as she felt her body finally relaxing fully after three days of being pulled tight.

 

Both Nicole and Waverly returned to school the next day and everything went back to normal, or as normal as it got for those two. Champ avoided the two of them like the plague and in English class he kept his head down low.

 

When Waverly got home that night, she truly felt like things might just work out for her, like the universe was maybe on her side once more, but as she saw the letter waiting for her on the table, she knew that those thoughts had come too soon.

 

Waverly picked up the letter with her name on, looking at the University of Toronto stamp in the corner.

 

Inside this envelope was whether she got into the college of her dream.

 

This piece of paper had her future on it, the future she had always wanted.

 

But Waverly wasn’t sure if she wanted it anymore.

 

Maybe her future was here, in Purgatory, with Nicole.

 

But as Waverly held the envelope, she knew she was what she was made for, this was the future she needed.

 

“Waverly?” Wynonna yelled from upstairs.

 

“Yeah?” Waverly responded, hearing a crash from upstairs after she replied, Wynonna sprinting down the stairs.

 

“HAVE YOU OPENED IT?” Wynonna screamed as she ran into the kitchen where Waverly was stood, panting as she tried to catch her breath.

 

“Not yet.” Waverly said, looking down at the letter in her hands.

 

“Well hurry up and do it, I’ve been waiting all day.” Wynonna said, her voice high pitched as excitement cursed through her veins.

 

“I can’t do it, you do it.” Waverly said after a moment, pushing the letter into Wynonna’s hands and taking a step back.

 

“What the hell makes you think I can do it!” Wynonna said as she shoved the letter back to Waverly.

 

“Fine, I’ll do it.” Waverly said as she opened the letter. She knew it didn’t matter how long she left the letter unopened, that wasn’t going to change what was inside, and maybe she didn’t have to worry about leaving Purgatory, for all she knew this letter was just going to tell her she’d been rejected.

 

But of course, it didn’t.

 

Waverly read over the one line at the top of the page five times before it hit her.

 

“I got in.” Waverly said quietly.

 

“You got in?” Wynonna asked just as quietly before Waverly squealed.

 

“I got in!” Waverly jumped into Wynonna’s arms as she screamed.

 

This was everything she had always wanted, she had worked her whole life for this, and in that moment, as she held Wynonna tightly, Waverly forgot that in order to get everything she had ever wanted, she might have to leave Nicole behind.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just when you thought the angst was over (jk, I promise no more angst, at least not like that).
> 
> hope you enjoyed and hopefully I'll see you all next Sunday for the next update <3


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...so, I've been having some serious issues with writing, especially with this fic, as the closer it got to the end the harder I found to write it. I felt like I had no plot and what I was writing as just awful, but after three different versions of this chapter and some help from Chip, I did it.
> 
> I was originally going to add another chapter, but I honestly think this is a good stopping point for this fic. I do have a CEO!Nicole and Intern!Waverly fic in the making atm, along side a hs au, my ten years later series and hopefully I'm going to get back to writing dance like nobody is watching, but until then, please enjoy the final chapter of you are my secret.
> 
> <3

 

  _every beginning has an end and every end is a new beginning_

 

* * *

 

 

_ten days_ until graduation.

“Waverly out of all the things you can be late for, this is not one of them.” Wynonna yelled up the stairs as Waverly looked herself up and down in the mirror for the thousandth time that evening.

 

The dance, or something Waverly had been doing her best to get out of for the last few weeks.

 

She didn’t want to go, she didn’t want to watch everyone slow dancing with _someone_ when she couldn’t be with her _someone._

But Chrissy, like always, had talked her into it.

 

So here she was, wearing a long skin-tight burgundy dress, her hair half tied back and curled, Chrissy having insisted all of this.

 

“Waverly I’m going to drag you down here in a second.”

 

“I’m coming.” Waverly yelled back, taking a step back from the mirror and taking a deep breath.

 

She walked down the stair, thankful for Chrissy forcing her to wear heels so she knew how to walk in them.

 

“You look stunning babygirl.” Wynonna said once Waverly reached the bottom of the stairs. “You ready?”

 

Waverly smiled soft before answering, “as ready as I’ll ever be.”

 

 

_nine days_

Midnight came, the dance went on and Waverly left.

 

She’d lost Chrissy in the crowd, she’d watched people dance for hours while she wished she was in Nicole’s arms.

 

Waverly opened the door of the homestead, her feet aching, her head pounding and every fibre in her body wanting to give up.

 

She knew she should have stayed home, that the dance was going to do nothing but make her miserable, but Chrissy always had a way with words.

 

Waverly didn’t notice the slight glow coming from the living room until she was stood in front of it.

 

“Hey baby.” Nicole said, a nervous smile across her face.

 

The entire living room was covered in fairy lights, the room softly glowing, Nicole stood in the centre of it. She was wearing a long black dress, it made Waverly’s jaw drop.

 

“What?” Waverly whispered as she took in the room, not sure what to say or where to start.

 

“I wanted us to have our own dance.” Nicole said, her nerves clear as her voice trembled slightly.

 

“This is…” Waverly couldn’t even begin to word how amazing this was.

 

Waverly walked over to Nicole, taking her girlfriends hands within her own.

 

“This is perfect.” Waverly saw Nicole visibly relax, the tension leaving her body.

 

“It is?” Nicole said as she glanced around the room, her nerves coming back for a second. “Are you sure it’s not too much I-

 

“Nicole Rayleigh Haught, I love you _so much_.” Waverly said slowly, cutting off Nicole’s doubts as they flowed out of her.

 

“I love you so much Waverly Earp.”

 

 

_Eight days_

Waverly felt her hands shaking as she held the letter, Nicole looking down between Waverly’s face and the letter in her hands.

 

“I got in.” Waverly’s words came out quietly, wrapped in fear.

 

Nicole’s reaction was pure admiration and excitement for Waverly, pulling Waverly in for a tight embrace.

 

Waverly registered the exact moment Nicole realised what the letter meant.

 

That she was leaving Purgatory.

 

Leaving Nicole.

 

“I don’t have to go.” Waverly whispered against Nicole.

 

“What? Of course, you do.” Nicole said, pulling back from Waverly enough to be able to see the brunettes face.

 

“But you’re here.” Waverly casted her eyes away from Nicole, scared of what she would see, of what Nicole would say.

 

And out of all the things Waverly had thought Nicole might say, she never expected; “Where you go, I go.”

 

 

_Seven days_

It was a week until school ended, a week until graduation, a week until a summer with Nicole where they didn’t have to hide.

 

Waverly had never been more excited for time to pass.

 

 

_Six days_

Nicole surprised Waverly with a date, a homemade dinner and a conversation about the future.

 

Nicole said she’d move, she’d stay with Waverly, that nearly losing her once was enough to know she could never do that again.

 

Waverly had tried to tell Nicole they could work something out, that the redhead didn’t have to move, didn’t have to quit her job.

 

“I’ll find another job, I can’t find another Waverly Earp.”

_Five days_

It felt like an eternity ago since the dance, time passing slower than it ever had, Waverly watching the clock in every class, waiting for the bell to ring, waiting till she could go see Nicole.

_Four days_

Wynonna had insisted that she came with her to Shorty’s for her shift.

 

Wynonna had insisted that she had a drink.

 

“I’m a minor Wynonna.” Waverly said sternly as Wynonna pushed the glass towards Waverly with a quick wink.

 

“It’s a lemonade.” _With vodka,_ Waverly thought to herself.

 

Five drinks later and Waverly couldn’t walk, her thoughts coming out as words as Wynonna laughed away to herself.

 

“Why you laughing?” Waverly questioned, her words coming out in a slur.

 

“Because, it’s nice to see you like this.” Wynonna chuckled, cleaning a glass as she did so.

 

“What? Drunk?” Waverly scrunched up her nose as she tried to understand why Wynonna found her being drunk so amusing.

 

“No, not drunk, carefree.” Wynonna said softly, but the words didn’t quite register with Waverly, the music of her favourite song taking over her senses.

 

_Three days_

Waverly wasn’t sure how she ended up in Nicole’s bed, but here she was, the redhead walking into the room with a glass of water and some painkillers.

 

“I think you’re gonna need these.” Nicole said as she set them down on the bedside table. “How you feeling?”

 

“Not great.” Waverly mumbled, her head pounding and her body heavy.

 

“I’m not surprised, Wynonna said you had a lot to drink.” Nicole had a sweet smile on her face, one that made Waverly’s heart melt and mind wonder just for a second, before Waverly realised what day it was.

 

“Shouldn’t we be at school?” Waverly questioned, the light coming from under the curtain bright, the clock showing something close to midday.

 

“I called in sick.” Nicole said as she tucked a stray piece of hair behind Waverly’s ear.

 

“But you’re not sick.” Waverly said with a huge smile emerging on her face.

 

“So, what are they going to do, fire me?”

 

 

_Two days_

It hadn’t hit Waverly just how close graduation was until today.

  
She was sat at lunch when it hit her.

 

Suddenly she couldn’t breathe.

 

Chrissy ended up taking her to the restrooms, trying to calm her.

 

Everything was too much, chaning too fast, and Waverly couldn’t get her head around it.

 

“Waverly, listen,” Chrissy said as she sat them down, taking Waverly’s hands within her own. “we have all summer, the change isn’t happening yet. You have time, you have months until college, we have a whole summer like normal. For now, just think about it like a normal summer break, nothing is changing yet okay?”

 

“What am I going to do without you?” Waverly said as she let out a shaky laugh.

 

“You’re not going to be without me. There’s this thing called the internet Waves, you can talk to me through it at any time.”

 

“I know but-“ Waverly tried, but Chrissy cut her off.

 

“I know it’s not the same, but it’s the best we got, and we’re not going to worry about that right now anyway. Summer first, panic after.”

 

_One day_

Waverly had tried on the robes a hundred times, she knew they fit, but she wanted to be sure, she didn’t want anything to be wrong for tomorrow.

 

“It’s going to be fine you know?” Wynonna spoke up, Waverly having not realised that Wynonna was leaning against her door way, watching her younger sister staring into the mirror.

  
“I know.” Waverly sighed. “I just want it to be perfect.”

 

“It is perfect.” Wynonna said as she walked behind Waverly, looking at their reflections in the mirror. “I’m proud of you.”

 

“Proud of me for what?” Waverly asked, looking at Wynonna through the mirror. It wasn’t often that Wynonna was like this, displaying her emotions, but when she did it meant the world to Waverly.

 

“For making it to graduation, for being so mature and amazing, for be you.” Wynonna said, wrapping her arms around Waverly from behind.

 

Waverly felt the tears forming in her eyes as Wynonna held her.

 

“Thank you, I love you Wynonna.”

 

“I love you too babygirl.”

_Graduation_

Waverly had never been so nervous for something in her entire life, expect maybe her first date with Nicole, but this was a close second.

 

The room was packed of proud parents families and friends, celebrating the success of surviving high school.

 

Wynonna sat proudly, waiting for her sisters name to be called.

 

Nicole sat with a smile on her face, but it widen when she heard Waverly's name over the speaker.

 

Hundreds of students stood in gowns, waiting for their name to be called, for their futures to begin.

 

Waverly walked up, the sound of applause barely registering with the brunette.

 

This was it, the moment she had been counting down to, the moment she couldn't decide if she wanted to come quicker or never come at all.

 

Her future started now, and she wasn't sure if that was what she wanted.

 

But as Waverly walked up on stage and looked out over the crowd, she saw Wynonna with tears in her eyes and she felt her heart explode.

 

And when she caught Nicole's eye, Waverly felt the fear leave her body and suddenly she couldn’t wait for her future to begin.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic has been a journey and I just want to thank everyone who left a comment or a kudos or who messaged or tweeted me about this fic, it means so much to me <3
> 
> I've never finished a multi chapter fit before so this fic will always hold a special place in my heart, and I hope you guys read my other fics for wayhaught and that this isn't the last I see of you
> 
> love you all, (and if you want an epilogue I'm sure I can make that happen) 
> 
> x


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